42 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



The European Flamingo is still quite common 

 about the salt-water lagoons of France and Spain, 

 and is occasionally found in Great Britain. See Plate 

 33, Fig. 189. 



Of the seven or eight species known, four are 

 American. One of the principal species breeds in 

 Florida and in certain of the Bahama Islands, which 

 are little more than low coral reefs covered with scant 

 vegetation and mud-flats. Here they congregate in 

 vast numbers, scraping up the mud to make their won- 

 derful nests, from eighteen inches to two feet in height. 

 The young are unlike the parent birds, having short 

 legs, and looking not unlike young geese. The beak, 

 too, is almost straight and does not assume the re- 

 curved form until the bird is fully adult. The use of 

 the peculiar shaped bill is seen when the Flamingo is 

 feeding. Owing to its extremely long legs, the head 

 is turned upside down as the creature dabbles about 

 in the water in search of its food, the lower part of 

 the beak becoming uppermost. 



Mr. Chapman, in his "Camps and Cruises of an 

 Ornithologist," says: "Flamingoes in flight resemble 

 no other bird known to me. With legs and neck 

 fully outstretched, and the comparatively small wings 

 set half way between bill and toes, they look as if 

 they might fly backward or forward with equal ease. 

 They progress more rapidly than a Heron, and, when 

 hurried, fly with a singular serpentine motion of the 

 neck and body, as if crawling in the air." 



The plumage is dense, like that of a Duck, and lies 

 close to the body. The primaries and secondaries of 

 the wings are black, and form a striking contrast to 



