CHAPTER XXX 

 ORDER OF FLAMINGOES— A CONNECTING LINK 



ODONTOGLOSSAE 



THE long-legged, long-necked Flamingo is a very per- 

 fect connecting link between the wading birds and the 

 swimmers. It is a most curiously formed bird. It has enor- 

 mously long, stilt-like legs, like a heron; but its feet are 

 fully webbed, like the feet of a duck. Its standing height 

 is from forty-eight to fifty-four inches. It has a long, slen- 

 der, crane-like neck; but its thick, broken-backed bill is 

 provided with lamillae along the edges, like the bill of a 

 shoveller duck. The anatomy of the bill and tongue of this 

 bird is particularly interesting. 



This bird is by habit a true wader, and lives and breeds 

 near shallow lagoons, where it can walk in the water and feed 

 on the bottom. 



The nest of this queer bird is a low, flat pillar of mud from 

 six to twelve inches in height, thirteen inches in diameter 

 at the bottom, and ten inches across the top — which is fiat, 

 and slightly depressed.^ The eggs are two in number. 



Up to 1890 the Flamingo flocks still visited southern 

 Florida, near Cape Sable, and it is possible that at rare in- 



' Bird Lore magazine, IV, p. 180. 

 164 



