26 H. D. Astley — Hardihood of Flamingoes and Stanley Cranes


did not prove as great a success. A Brown Owl attacked it the first

night it was at liberty,- and, dashing away in the darkness, it lost its

bearings and never returned home. It was seen on one or two occasions,

and I hoped to recover it, as it was quite tame ; but my hopes seem

likely to remain unfulfilled, unless some reader should know of its

capture. It is a greenish yellow bird, darker green on the wings, with

some of the secondaries red, and a long tail, black above and pinkish

underneath. The size is about that of a tame pigeon.”



HARDIHOOD OF FLAMINGOES AND STANLEY


CRANES


By Hubert D. Astley


I still have five pre-war Flamingoes (I believe the only ones in

England) which have never been shut in during the winters. This

year they have on three occasions been frozen in, so that for two or

three days and nights at a time they have stood closely packed in a

small pool of water, surrounded by ice, which they have managed to

keep from being frozen by movement of feet and beaks. From

experience they have learnt that it is risky and inadvisable to walk on

the ice, for when they did so they constantly slipped up and were in

danger of fractured legs.


It is astonishing that birds which would naturally be in Egypt can

not only stand the cold, but are able to endure it without any exercise

for forty-eight hours and more. It is useless to break the ice, for it

only scares them and matters would be worse (and have been) than

better. In fact, the remedy is worse than the disease.


When the thaws arrive their joy is great, and in open water once

more they rush about with carmine and black wings extended, until

one wonders how they can possibly avoid breaking their legs.


In February I had a shock on seeing one morning that the female

Stanley Crane was enclosed in ice half-way up her legs, having roosted

(as she and her mate always do) in the water. Luckily the ice was

not strong enough to hold her, and after a great effort she freed herself,

jumped on to the harder ice, and walked ashore, much to her mate’s

delight and hers, for they proceeded to dance a fandango. On another



