THE



287



Avicultural Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series .— Vol. V.—No. 10. —All rights reserved. AUGUST, 1914.



FLAMINGOS.


By Hubert D. Astley.


Through the courtesy of Sir Harry Johnston we are able to

publish a coloured illustration of the small Flamingo (Phceniconais

minor), which is to be found in such abundance in B. E. Africa,

especially on Lake Hannington.


Sir Harry Johnston, in his book on the Uganda Protectorate,

wrote:—“On Lake Hannington it is no exaggeration to say that

there must be close on a million Flamingos. These birds are mainly

collected round the northern end of the lake and on the submerged

banks which break up the deep blue-green of its surface. The shores

where they cluster, and these banks in the middle of the lake where

they are above the water’s edge, are dazzling white with the birds’

guano.


These Flamingos breed on a flat plain of mud about a mile

broad at the north end of the lake, where their nests, in the form of

little mounds of mud with feathers plastered on the hollow top,

appear like innumerable mole hills.


The birds having hitherto been absolutely unmolested by man,

are quite tame. (Written in 1902 .—Ed.) They belong to a rosy

species, Phceniconais minor, which is slightly smaller than the

Mediterranean Flamingo, but exquisitively beautiful in plumage.

The adult bird has a body and neck of rosy pink, the colour of

sunset clouds. The beak is scarlet and purple ; the legs are deep

rose-pink, inclining to scarlet. Underneath the black-pinioned

wings, the larger feathers are scarlet-crimson, while beautiful

crimson crescents tip the tertiaries and wing-coverts on the upper

surface of the wings.



