THE NATURALIST IN BEEMTTDA. 175 



approach, and were all in red plumage ; *hese would settle 

 on some distant margin of the lake in liae, " resembling a 

 company of soldiers." On reaching the rocky shore of the 

 island in question, many young flamingos were discovered, 

 some of which were run down and captured. JThey have 

 an awkward gait, but scuttle along at a good pace. These 

 were in the grey plumage, and of different stages of 

 growth ; the larger, just putting forth the quiU feathers of 

 the wings. Hollis confidently states, that he saw upwards 

 of a thousand old flamingos on the lake that day, or rather 

 on the small portion of it visited by him. He also saw 

 many nests of these birds, and found several of their eggs, 

 which appeared to have been thrown out by the parent 

 birds, and proved to be addled. They were white, and 

 about the size of a common goose egg. The nests were 

 composed of mud and sticks, more or less raised on account 

 of surrounding water ; the highest of these were certainly 

 not more than nine inches from the ground, while many 

 others were nearly level with it. The surface was hollowed 

 out, and capable of containing about two eggs, not more. 

 I referred to Wilson's "American Ornithology," and read 

 the paragraph which describes the elevated nest constructed 

 by this bird, to admit of its long legs dangling on each side 

 during the duties of incubation; at this, my informant 

 smiled, and assured me that he saw nothing of the kind ; 

 that he had particularly noticed many of their nests, and 

 that in no one instance did the height of any of them 

 exceed what he had already stated. — J. L. H. 



