The Flamingoes 191 



to it the bird picks it off. The old birds throw up the 

 stones when flying, and the number of fruits which they 

 swallow is remarkable, as Stolzmann, whose account of the 

 species has been quoted here, states that he has shot birds 

 in the evening with their crops quite empty, and within 

 half-an-hour afterwards he has shot specimens with seven 

 and eleven fruits in their crops. 



The Flamingoes i^PImnicopterus) are birds which also 

 build mud nests, but in the open mud-flats. They are 

 found both in the Old and New Worlds, and in Miocene 

 times were inhabitants of Northern Europe, some short- 

 legged members of the group, known as Elornis, having 

 actually inhabited France and the south of England at that 

 remote period. The commonly received notion that the 

 Flamingo built a nest of mud and that the female bird sat 

 straddle-legged across the mound has lately been dispelled 

 by more accurate observation, and the actual method of 

 incubation of the bird, as shown by the accompanying 

 figure, is drawn from the group in the Natural History 

 Museum. The nest here figured was procured in Southern 

 Spain, and was presented to the National Collection by the 

 late Lord Lilford. It is to a well-known English field 

 naturalist, Mr. Abel Chapman, that we are indebted for an 

 account of the actual nesting habits of the Flamingo in the 

 marshes of Southern Spain, where the birds are seen in 

 flocks of from three hundred to five hundred individuals. 

 Similar flocks are also a feature of the Nile X'alley in 

 winter, and at the same season of the year Flamingoes 

 collect in herds of tens of thousands in the lake regions of 

 the province of Sind in North-western India. A flock of 

 these birds is always a beautiful sight, and when they rise 

 on the wing, the effect of the white and rose-colour of their 

 bodies is wonderful. As the)' fly. Flamingoes keep their 

 long necks and legs outstretched, and they travel like Geese 

 in regular bands of V-shaped form. They moreover 



