SWANS AND FLAMINGOES 69 



waterlily seeds as being greedily eaten by this bird. The 

 single stomach examined by the Biological Survey from 

 Muscle Shoals, contained ground-up leaves, stems, and root- 

 lets of pondweed (Najas flexUis) with two Panicum seeds. 



WHISTLING SWAN: Cygnus columbianus (Ord).t 



State records. — Swans are now of rare occurrence in the 

 State and no specimens are available. The few records prob- 

 ably refer to this species. A flock was seen by several people 

 about 1910 in the fields near Leighton ; the birds are reported 

 to occur rarely as winter visitors in Mississippi Sound. In 

 early December, 1916, a swan was reported to be living in 

 Polecat Bay, near Mobile, spending much time on a mud flat 

 near the head of the Bay. 



General habits. — This bird feeds in shallow water about 

 muddy flats, immersing its head and neck and dragging up 

 from the bottom bunches of its favorite aquatic plants. It is 

 said to be at times very noisy, its notes being described as 

 shrill and discordant. 



FLAMINGOES: Family Phoenicopterldae. 

 FLAMINGO: Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus. 



Staie records. — That flamingoes once occurred in the State 

 is evidenced by the remark of Audubon, who says of these 

 striking and beautiful birds : "The western coast of Florida, 

 and some portions of that of Alabama, in the neighborhood 

 of Pensacola, are the parts to which they mostly resort."* 

 D. D. Stone records the capture alive in 1881 of four young 

 flamingoes at Warrington, Florida, a short distance from the 

 Alabama lme.t The species does not at present occur in this 

 region and is found in the United States only in southern 

 Florida, and there very rarely. 



General habits. — The flamingo is an abundant bird in the 

 Bahamas, nesting in large colonies in remote, shallow lagoons. 

 The nests, truncate-conical in shape, and from 8 to 14 inches 

 high, are constructed of mud, which the bird scoops up with 



fOlor columbianus of the A. O. U. Check-list ; for change of name see The Auk, vol. 

 40, p. B16, 1923. „„ .„„„ 



•Audnbon, J. J., Ocnith. Biog., vol. 5, p. 256, 1839. 

 tStone, D. D., Orn. and Ool., vol. 10, p. 158, 1886. 



