Ground and Underground Nests 



some bare rock and afterwards surrounds it with a rampart 

 of mud and seaweed. Nesting on the islands of the 

 Southern Seas and displaying an absolute fearlessness of 

 man during the nesting season, this wonderful bird is in 

 a fair way to suffering extinction, for, needless to add, it 

 is slaughtered indiscriminately. 



The noddy is not the only bird that adds to its nest 

 year by year, without taking the trouble to remove the 

 debris of the previous season. The flamingo also has this 

 curious and slovenly habit. The newer nests of these 

 birds are only a few inches in height, the older ones a foot 

 or more. The flamingo usually builds on marshy ground 

 and the birds breed not in pairs but in great flocks. The 

 nest is constructed almost wholly of mud, which is scraped 

 together by the birds' beaks and patted into shape with 

 their feet. The newer nests resemble soup-plates, being 

 circular in outline, with a hollow in the centre for the 

 reception of the eggs ; the older nests are conical mounds 

 of mud, scooped out at the top. A few feathers as a lining 

 complete the structure. 



For years an erroneous account of the sitting birds held 

 sway. It was stated that the hens straddled their nests 

 when sitting, and many illustrations of flamingos incubating 

 their nests in this manner have appeared in natural history 

 books. More recent and more reliable observations have 

 shown that the flamingo sits on its eggs in the ordinary 

 way, with its legs bent beneath it. It is sad that these 

 pretty stories should be refuted ; still, there are plenty of 

 well-authenticated facts in nature which are more remark- 

 able than the inventions of some imaginative man. 



The mound-birds and brush-turkeys are members of 

 a family with peculiar nesting habits. They lay their 

 eggs either in sand or in large mounds composed of 

 decaying vegetable matter and consign the duties of 

 incubation to the rays of the sun or to the heat given off 

 by the putrifying herbage. The edifices constructed by 

 these birds are remarkable for their size, though the birds 



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