AMONG THE FLAMINGOES. 



Ill 



and their graceful necks neatly curled away among their 

 back-feathers like a sitting swan, with the heads resting 

 on their breasts — all these points were unmistakable. 

 Indeed, as regards the disposition of their legs, it is hardly 

 necessary to point out that in the great majority of cases 

 (the nests being hardly raised above the level of the mud) 

 no other position was possible — to sit astride on a flat 

 surface is out of the question. 



Still none of the crowded nests contained a single egg. 

 How strange it is that the flamingo, a bird which never 

 seems happy unless half-way up to his knees in water, 



FLAMINGOES AND NESTS. 



should so long delay the period of incubation : for, long 

 before eggs could be laid and hatched in these nests and 

 the young reared, the full summer-heats of June and July 

 would have set in, the water would have entirely dis- 

 appeared, and the flamingoes would be left stranded in the 

 midst of a scorching desert of dry, sun-baked mud. 



Being unable myself to return to the marisma, I sent 

 Felipe back there on the 26th of May, when he obtained 

 eggs — long, white and chalky, some specimens extremely 

 rough. Two is the number laid in each nest. In 1872 

 the writer obtained eggs taken on May 24th, which is 

 therefore, probably, about the average date of laying. 



