.PHffiNICOPTERIDvE. 213 



Order D N T GL S S -E. 



Family PHCENIC OPTERIDJE. 

 228. Phcenicopterus roseus, Pallas. The Flamingo. 



Moorish. Nihof. Spanish. Flamenco. 



Favier says : " The Flamingo, near Tangier, passes north- 

 wards in April, May, and June, returning in August up to as late 

 as December. The females are the first to arrive during the 

 autumn migration. The males rejoin their mates in November, 

 accompanied by the young of the previous year ; the young of 

 the year are never seen here. They are met with in large flocks 

 on the lakes, always staying in the water, though they never 

 swim about, and are very wary and difficult to approach. The 

 only month in which they are entirely absent is July. Their 

 temporary absence during other months is regulated by the 

 quantity of water in the lakes ; and as one month is not suffi- 

 cient time for them to lay and hatch their eggs, they ought to 

 nest not far from Tangier: indeed an old chasseur, worthy of 

 belief, informed me that he had shot one which, when it fell, 

 dropped an egg in the water." 



The movements of the Flamingo are certainly very irregular 

 and perplexing, and, no doubt, influenced by the amount of water 

 in the brackish lagoons which they frequent. Most of these 

 lagoons, being formed by rain-water, are brackish from the salt 

 contained in the earth, and in very dry seasons hold hardly any 

 water. 



In very wet seasons these birds breed in the marismas of the 

 Guadalquivir, and used to nest at Fuente Piedra between Cordova 

 and Malaga. 



Flights of Flamingoes are frequently seen passing near Gibraltar 

 as early as the 4th of February, and as late as the 1st of May ; 

 and they again appear in August and September, when immature 

 birds are met with. I have seen flocks of thousands in the 



