THE FLAMINGO 



hind-toe is present, but this is lacking in two other South American species, 

 namely, P. {Phcenicopamts) andinus, the largest member of the family, of the 

 Chilian and Bolivian Andes and Argentina, and P. (P.) jamesi, of southern Peru 

 and Chile, in both of which the beak is yellow at the base and red in the middle, 

 while the legs are yellow in the former and red in the latter. Lastly, there is P. 

 {Phceniconaias) minor, of Africa, Madagascar, and India, which in general appearance 

 much resembles the European species. 



Although flamingoes spend much of their time in wading, they are also good 

 swimmers. Like geese and ducks, they associate in vast flocks, and further 

 evidence of their kinship to that group is afforded by their loss of the power of flight 

 during the height of the moulting season, and likewise by their " gaggling " cries, 

 which are curiously like those of geese. 



In the breeding-season flamingoes resort to lakes, salt-lagoons, or the swamps 

 in river-valleys, those of the Guadalquivir being one of their favourite haunts in 

 Europe. Bare shores are an essential element in such breeding-colonies, for it is on 

 these that the birds construct their curious sugar-loaf mud-nests, which have a cup- 

 like depression at the summit for the reception of the one or two eggs, and vary 

 in height from two to fifteen inches according to the depth of the water. The eggs, 

 which are brooded by each sex in turn for a period of fully four weeks, have bluish 

 coloured shells, covered with a rough chalky crust. When incubating, the bird sits 

 with its legs bent beneath the body, although it was long supposed that these hung 

 down on the sides of the nest. 



Hundreds or even thousands of flamingoes may congregate in these breeding- 

 colonies ; and there are few more beautiful sights in nature than to see a flock of 

 these splendid birds, especially the scarlet American species, rise on the wing and 

 display their full colouring and plumage in the sunlight. 



43 



