THE SWIMMERS. llj 



in regular ranks. Aurora herself was never adorned with more roseate tints than the wings of these 

 birds, they seemed literally to glow with pink and carmine. The name of the Flamingo, both in Greek 

 and Latin, was derived from the magnificent hues of their glorious wings, and the French in the 

 epithet flammaut only repeat the same idea. The first impression produced by such a spectacle is not 

 easily to be forgotten ; the birds stood in ranks, not merely of thousands, but literally of hundreds of 

 thousands, ranged in interminable array. As the sunlight played upon the dazzling white and glowing 

 red, the effect was indescribable ; at length, taking alarm at something, the whole body of them rose 

 into the air, displaying their wings to still greater advantage, as they formed themselves into an 

 immense wedge-shaped phalanx, and winged their way far up into the blue sky." When standing 

 quietly upon the shore, the appearance of these birds very much resembles that of an army drawn up 

 in order of battle ; the Cingalese call them " English soldier birds," the South Americans simply 

 "soldiers," and indeed not without cause, for, as Humboldt informs us, the inhabitants of 

 Angostura, soon after the establishment of that colony, were one day thrown into a state of great 

 alarm by the sudden appearance of what they took to be a numerous army, and it was only when the 

 supposed enemy took flight to the shores of the Orinoco, that they discovered their mistake. A 

 solitary Flamingo is very rarely seen, never perhaps before the commencement of the pairing season, 

 and even then it must be some young bird that has strayed by accident from its fellows. Usually they 

 keep together in flocks, and carefully avoid any locality where danger might be apprehended. Open 

 waters are usually selected as their fishing-place, and should a boat approach they at once take flight 

 whilst it is still far off, so that it is by no means easy to observe their proceedings, except with the aid 

 of a telescope. In general they may be seen with their legs immersed in the water, or more rarely on 

 the dry shore or on sand-banks with their necks curved in a very peculiar manner (see page 116) in front 

 of the breast, the head being laid as it were upon the back, or buried beneath the shoulder-feathers of the 

 wing ; generally the whole weight of the body is supported by one leg, the other being held obliquely 

 backwards or drawn up close to the body ; in this strange position the Flamingo sleeps. The manner 

 in which these birds obtain their food is equally remarkable. Like all other sieve-beaked birds, the 

 materials upon which they subsist are procured by raking in the mud. The Flamingo when in search 

 of food, wades into the water to a convenient depth, and then bends down its long neck until its head is 

 upon the same level as its feet ; it then plunges its beak, with the upper mandible downwards, into the 

 mud. In this position the bird rakes about at the bottom of the water, moving backwards and forwards 

 with short steps, and opening and shutting its bill whilst its tongue is busily at work. In this manner, 

 by the delicate sense of touch resident in that member, the Flamingo examines the contents of its 

 mouth, retaining what is useful as food, and straining out through the sieve-like apparatus the mud or 

 non-nutritive materials with which it is accompanied. Meanwhile, by the movements of its webbed 

 feet, it is continually stirring up the bottom, and thus putting in motion all the little aquatic animals 

 of which it is in search. The gait of the Flamingo very much resembles that of the Long-legged 

 Waders, but is not exactly similar, although the difference is not easily described. Its steps are 

 longer, more regular, and more vacillating, as might be expected from the extraordinary length of its 

 legs, but at the same time its movements are easy, and differ widely from the accounts given of them 

 by some writers, who tell us that when walking it is compelled to help itself along by its beak. Its 

 beak, however, is occasionally employed to assist it in its movements, as for example, when having 

 bent its legs under its body it lies down upon the ground to rest, and is suddenly obliged to rise from 

 this position, the bill is employed to assist in getting up, but this once accomplished it runs away 

 with tolerable speed in the manner above described. When taking flight from the sea or lake in 

 which it has been feeding, it not unfrequently goes to a considerable distance, half running and half 

 flying over the surface of the water, much after the manner of a Duck or Water-hen. In deep 



