396 FLAMINGO. 
about fifty yards of it. Inquiries failed to show that any bird of this 
species had escaped from menageries about the above dates; but 
one which was shot in the Isle of Sheppey on August 16th 1873, 
may have been an individual which escaped from the London 
Zoological Gardens on July 19th. 
The visits of the Flamingo to England are not nearly so remark- 
able as are those of many other southern species, for stragglers have 
been obtained in Pomerania and Hesse-Darmstadt ; single birds, 
and even flocks, have been observed from time to time along the 
Lower Rhine; and varying numbers often ascend the valley of the 
Rhone, visiting the lakes of Switzerland, Savoy, and the éfangs of 
La Brenne in Central France. Flocks still resort to the lagoons of 
the Rhone delta, and in years when there is plenty of water they 
breed on the étang de Valcarés ; while still larger communities are 
found at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in the south of Spain, and 
at Tunis and other suitable places in North Africa. The Flamingo 
also breeds in the Cape Verde Islands; ranges over the whole of 
Africa ; and inhabits Asia from the Caspian to Lake Baikal. 
It had long been known that Flamingoes bred in colonies, 
depositing their eggs on nests built of mud, and raised to heights 
varying from a few inches to about two feet, according to the 
liability of the soil to inundation ; but Mr. Abel Chapman was the 
first to prove, from personal observation (Ibis, 1884, pp. 86-89), that 
the birds sit with their long legs doubled under their bodies, and 
do not stand astride of their nests, as popularly supposed and erro- 
neously pictured. The eggs, laid about May 24th, are 2 in number, 
and have a very chalky-white surface, beneath which the shell is 
greenish-blue: measurements 3°6 by 2°25 in. Mr. W. Eagle Clarke 
found that in the Camargue the food consisted of minute crustaceans 
(Artemia salina), &c. Flamingoes feed by day ; their cry, formation 
in flight, and moult are Anserine, and they swim with ease. 
The adult has the general plumage rosy-white, with scarlet wing- 
coverts and black quills ; irides and bare skin next the eye yellow ; 
bill rosy at the base, black at the tip; legs and feet pinkish-red. 
The length to the tip of the tail varies, irrespective of age or sex, 
from 50-60 in. ; wing 16-17 in. In the young of the first year the 
pink is absent, except a slight trace of it on the wings; the 
secondaries are irregularly barred with black, and the bill, eyes, legs 
and feet are dull lead-colour. The nestling is covered with greyish- 
white down ; the bill is nearly straight. 
