PHCENICOPTERUS ROSEUS. 1095 



accompanied him on his trips ; and this is in part as follows : — " The Flamingo always makes its nest in the 

 flattest part of the marsh, in places where there is from three to four inches of water. The nest, which rises to 

 about half a yard above the surface of the water, is made of mud, like that of a Swallow ; its shape is almost 

 cylindrical, but somewhat wider at the base. There is a slight concavity for the eggs, oval in shape, like the shape 

 of the inside of a hat. When the bird is sitting, she has her legs stretched out behind, hanging in the air (that 

 is to say, unsupported), like the arms of a man when he puts them behind his back and throws his shoulders 

 forward. The complement of eggs is five ; and the birds, when once frightened from their nests, do not return. 

 To raise itself the bird ' scrambles ' with its feet on the side of the nest till it lifts its body clear, and then 

 it takes wing." 



Further evidence is given by Captain Dampier, who wrote as far back as 1729, concerning the 

 Flamingo as observed by him in the Cape-Verd Islands. From Mr. Dresser's work I transcribe the following 

 passage from Dampier's ' Collection of Voyages/ i. pp. 70, 71 : — " They build their nests in shallow ponds, 

 where there is much mud, which they scrape together, making little hillocks, like small islands, appearing out 

 of the water, a foot and a half high from the bottom. They make the foundation of these hillocks broad, 

 bringing them up tapering to the top, where they leave a small hollow pit to lay their eggs in ; and when 

 they either lay their eggs or hatch them, they stand all the while not on the hillock but close by it, with 

 their legs on the ground and in the water, resting themselves against the hillock, and covering the hollow 

 nest upon it with their rumps ; for their legs are very long ; and building thus as they do upon the ground 

 they could neither draw their legs conveniently into their nests, nor sit down upon them otherwise than by 

 resting their whole bodies there, to the prejudice of their eggs or their young, were it not for this admirable 

 contrivance, which they have by natural instinct. They never lay more than two eggs, and seldom fewer. 

 The young ones cannot fly until they are almost full-grown, but will run prodigiously fast ; yet we have 

 taken many of them. The flesh of both young and old is lean and black, yet very good meat, tasting 

 neither fishy nor any way unsavoury. Their tongues are large, having a large knob of fat at the root, 

 which is an excellent bit, a dish of Flamingos' tongues being fit for a prince's table." The eggs are similar to 

 those of a Gannet, but more pointed at one end ; the texture is chalky, and they are white in colour with 

 a green interior surface. I am indebted to Mr. Dresser for the measurements of two in his collection, which 

 are as follows — 3'64 by 23 and 3'5 by 2 - 25 inches respectively. 



