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copterus antiquorum), in fine adult plumage, on the Kishon, near its mouth, where there is 

 scarcely any cover, and where a few were generally to be seen in winter. We also occasionally 

 saw a flock high in the air elsewhere, but never discovered their breeding-place, though in July 

 a very young bird was shot close to the place where we procured our first specimen." 



In North-east Africa the Flamingo is very common. Captain Shelley says (B. of Egypt, 

 p. 272), " the Flamingo is rather rare on the Nile itself, but is extremely abundant in the 

 great brackish-water lakes of Lower Egypt, and is not uncommon in the Fayoom. On Lakes 

 Mareotis and Menzaleh large flocks of these birds may generally be seen wading far out in the 

 shallow water. They are very shy and difficult to approach within gun-shot, and when disturbed 

 make a great clamour with their loud harsh voices. On the wing they look very peculiar, as 

 they fly with their long necks and legs stretched out." Dr. Brehm says that the Flamingo is a 

 resident in North-east Africa ; and Von Heuglin states that he met with it in large flocks in the 

 winter and spring until the early summer, and singly and in pairs on the lagoons of Lower Egypt, 

 in the Fayoom, and near Suez. He saw a few pairs in November north of Sauakin, and in 

 September and August between Massowa and Bab-el-Mandeb. In October 1853 he observed a 

 flock between Woad Schelai and El Eis, near the White Nile, but could not succeed in shooting 

 a specimen. According to Loche it is numerous on the large lakes of Algeria, where it breeds ; 

 and Mr. Salvin says (Ibis, 1859, p. 361): — "It seems to be an almost universal rule throughout 

 the world, that where there are salt lakes, there Flamingos are found. It certainly is the case 

 in Tunis, and the province of Constantine, in Eastern Algeria ; no permanent salt lake of any 

 extent is without them. Every one who has visited Tunis must remember the vast numbers that 

 are to be seen in the lagoon of El Baheira and the lake on the north-western side of the town, 

 and will recall to mind the magnificent sight of a thousand or more of these beautiful birds rising 

 from the water at one time, the whole mass, from the colour of their expanded wings, looking 

 like an animated rosy cloud. They are extremely difficult to approach ; and I only succeeded in 

 shooting one, which proved to be a splendid male. On dissecting the bird, I found in the 

 gizzard nothing but the vegetable matter that grows at the bottom of these lagoons ; I am 

 therefore led to suppose that this forms the principal part of its food, and not the worms which 

 burrow in the mud, as Mr. Darwin suggests (Naturalist's Voyage, new ed. p. 66). We found 

 the bird equally abundant at Djendeli throughout the month of May, but obtained no certain 

 clue to its breeding-localities or nesting-habits : the Arabs could tell us nothing ; and we were 

 unable to discover any thing ourselves." Mr. C. A. Wright observes (Ibis, 1864, p. 140) : — "The 

 Flamingo is very common on the lagoon of Tunis, where I shot two in March 1859. I know of 

 no more striking sight than the flight of a large number of these extraordinary-looking birds, of 

 which it is no unusual thing to see as many as five or six hundred or even a thousand together. 

 Their long legs and necks stretched out to their fullest extent, with an African sun shining on 

 their white bodies and crimson wings, form a spectacle which, once witnessed, must ever remain 

 deeply impressed on the mind. They are exceedingly shy ; and it was only by pursuing them for 

 several days in a sailing-boat, and using a heavy charge of powder and pistol-bullets, that I suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining the specimens alluded to." " Near Tangier," Favier says (fide Colonel Irby, 

 Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 193), " it passes northwards in April, May, and June, returning in August and 

 up to as late in December. The females are the first to arrive during the autumn migration. The 



