57-1 FLAMINGOES JSTESTS. 



season. Within a radius of a mile no less than eight groups of nests 

 were discovered. They showed successive stages of decay, from the 

 old nests, which had almost disappeared before the action of the 

 elements, to those which were in an excellent state of preservation 

 and were doubtless occupied the preceding j^ear. Some were placed 

 among young, others among fully grown, mangroves, and one colony, 

 probably inhabited in 1900, was situated on a sand bar 200 yards from 

 the nearest vegetation. All the colonies found contained at least 

 several hundred nests, and the one on the sand bar, by actual count of 

 a measured section, was composed of 2,000 mud dwellings. What an 

 amazing sight this settlement nmst have presented when occupied, 

 with the stately males, as is their habit, standing on guard near their 

 sitting mates! 



Flamingoes in small flocks containing from 3 or 4: to 50 individuals 

 were seen in the vicinit}', but it remained for Mr. Bonhote's negro 

 assistant to discover the spot which had been selected by the birds for 

 a nesting site in 1902. Climbing a small palm, an extended view was 

 had of the surrounding lagoons, sand bars, and bush-grown limestone; 

 and he soon exclaimed, "Oh, Mr, Bonhote, too much, too much fiUy- 

 mingo!" Less than a mile away, indeed, was a flock estimated to 

 contain at least 700 of these magniticent birds, which Mr. Bonhote 

 approached so cautiously through the thick growth of mangroves, 

 that he Avas fairly upon them before they took wing. They had not 

 then begun to build, but the open spaces among the mangroves were 

 closely dotted with nests (see illustration), which apparently had been 

 occupied the preceding year and in some of which old eggs were seen. 

 Here, some days later, nests were found in the early stages of their 

 construction ; but, to our great regret, circumstances compelled us to 

 leave l)efore they were completed and we did not, therefore, see the 

 birds upon them. However, we learned some things regarding the 

 nesting habits of flamingoes which, in view of our comparative igno- 

 rance of the w^ays of these birds at this season, it may be worth while 

 recording. 



In the tirst place, although the birds return to the same general 

 locality year after year, they apparently use a nest only one season. 

 This seemed proven by the nicely graduated series of groups of nests 

 which we found, each one of which, beginning with those best pre- 

 served, seemed about a year older than the other, and b}^ the fact 

 that the birds were building fresh nests near numbers of others which 

 were seemingl}' as good as new. 



The thousands of nests seen were built of mud, which the nests in 

 process of construction showed was scooped up from al)out their base. 

 In fact it is difficult to conceive of a flamingo carrying nmd. In 

 selecting a nesting site, therefore, the l)ird is governed by the condi- 

 tion of the ground, which, to be serviceable, must be soft and mudd}'. 



