FLAMINGOES 249 



birds. But instead it makes a loud clicking noise with its bill, which 

 may be heard at a great distance, even when it is flying high in 

 the air and out of sight. It is a bird which very seldom visits this 

 country. But during the summer it is to be found in most parts 

 of Europe except where it is very cold. In winter it flies away to 

 the south, and visits Egypt in very large numbers. 



ODONTOGLOSS^ 



We should at first sight certainly be inclined to place the 

 Flamingoes with the Herons, and Storks, and Ibises, but in reality 

 they are more nearly related to the Ducks and Geese. So they 

 are grouped into a family by themselves. 



FLAMINGOES 



Let us suppose that we stand upon the borders of one of the 

 great swamps of Northern Africa. It is not a very attractive spot, 

 neither is it a very healthy one; for if we remain there long we 

 should certainly fall victims to fever and ague. But for a few 

 weeks in every year there is a most remarkable sight to be 

 witnessed there. 



The swamp is a great sheet of shallow water, stretching away 

 as far as the eye can see. There is not much vegetation, for the 

 water is salt. No trees, no bushes, no reed-beds or banks of 

 rushes; nothing but here and there a thin patch of some strange 

 plant which thrives in the brackish water. But what is that thin 

 crimson line in the distance? 



That is just what we have come to see. If we go a little 

 nearer we shall find that it consists of nothing but thousands upon 

 thousands of great rosy-red birds from five to six feet high. What 

 long, stilt-like legs they have! How slender and flexible their long 



