FLAMINGOES' NESTS. « 



By Frank M. Chapman. 



Not very many years ago, so little did we know about the nesting 

 habits of the flamingo, it was commonly believed that the incubating 

 bird straddled the nest when hatching, letting her legs hang down on 

 either side! The observations of H. H. Johnston ^' and Abel Chapman * 

 on the European species {Phwnicopterus antiquorum) and of Sir Henry 

 Blake '^ on the American species {P. 'ruber) proved the a])snrdity of this 

 belief b}^ showing that incubating birds folded their legs under them 

 in the usual w'a}", but we still know very little about the nesting 

 habits of these birds. 



Largely with the o])ject of studying the flamingo on its nesting 

 grounds I went to the Bahamas in April of the present 3' ear, accom- 

 panied by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the well-known artist. At 

 Nassau we joined Mr. J. Lewis Bonhote, of Cambridge, England. 

 Mr. Bonhote was formerly governor's secretarj^ in the Bahamas, when 

 he acquired a knowledge of the islands which was of the greatest value 

 to us. He had already made a reconnoissance in search of flamingoes' 

 nesting retreats, and with the aid of one of the few natives who was 

 familiar with their whereabouts had succeeded in reaching a locality 

 on Andros Island, at wdiich the birds had bred the previous year. 



It is not my purpose to recount here the various adventures which 

 befell us while cruising about the Bahamas in a ver}" comfortable 

 50-ton schooner, and I proceed at once to a description of our experi- 

 ences with the flamingo. 



Flamingoes are late breeders. It is not improbable that the time 

 of their nesting is dependent upon the rain}^ season, which, in the 

 Bahamas, begins about the middle of Ma3^ Consequently we deferred 

 our trip to the locality previously visited by Mr. Bonhote until the 

 middle of May. Then we anchored our schooner at the mouth of a 

 certain channel, and, loading our small boats with needed supplies, 

 rowed for the better part of a day, pitching our tents toward evening 

 on a low, slightly shelving shore with a ])ackground of dense, scrubl)y 

 vegetation. Exploration of the surrounding country showed that it 

 was regularly frequented by flamingoes in numbers during the nesting 



« Reprinted, by permission, from Bird Lore, The Macmillan Company, Harris- 

 l)urg. Pa., and New York, A^ol. IV, 1902, pp. 177-181. 

 ''The Ibi.s 1881, p. 173; 1883, p. 397. 

 ''Nineteenth Century, 1887, p. 886. 



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