112 



WILD SPAIN. 



Owing to the late period at which incubation takes place, 

 we have not had an opportunity of examining the young 

 flamingoes when newly -hatched, or of endeavouring to solve 

 the biological problems which appear to cluster round their 

 adolescent anatomy. In June and July, 1872, the writer 

 spent some time in the marisma, but unfortunately was 

 not aware, at that time, of the interest attaching to these 

 points. 



According to native accounts, very few young flamingoes 

 are ever reared in Spain. Though in wet seasons eggs are 

 laid in thousands (they are sold by boatloads in the 

 neighbouring villages), yet few, if any, of the young 

 Spanish flamingoes reach maturity — possibly by reason 

 of their lateness in nesting, and the rapid changes in the 

 state of the water in the marisma. 



In the spring of 1891, after an exceptionally severe 

 winter in Spain, and with comparatively little water in the 

 marisma, flamingoes were remarkably scarce, and we 

 believe that none bred in Andalucia that year. 



Since the author's description of the nesting habits of the 

 flamingo first appeared in the Ibis (January, 1884), its 

 accuracy has been corroborated by independent observa- 

 tions made on the West Indian island of Abaco by His 

 Excellency (now Sir) H. H. Blake, when Governor of the 

 Bahamas. The value of the corroboration is enhanced by 

 the fact that the above-named 'gentleman was unaware at 

 the time he wrote that the long- vexed question had already, 

 three years previously, been solved : and his graphic 

 description in the Nineteenth Century for December, 1887, 

 is, as regards facts, almost identical with the present 

 writer's account of a similar scene narrated in the Ibis for 

 January, 1884. 



One other point before we leave the flamingo and 

 its haunts. We have seen it stated that the brilliant 

 colours of the flamingo do but reflect the brilliancy of 

 its environment — that these bright colours have been 

 acquired through the aesthetic tastes of the bird and by 

 "selective preference"; then, proceeding to enlarge on a 

 " fascinating theory," its expounder goes on from particular 



