64 THE AMERICAN FLAMINGO. 



A few days later we anchored a few miles east of the eastern- 

 most Cape Sable, on the extreme south point of the state. 

 Early next morning a flock of 31 Flamingoes flew past us 

 eastward, and a fine breeze soon found us following them. 

 My sailor knew the ground well to the southeast of Cape 

 Sable, having forty years or more ago often gone with his 

 father Flamingo-hunting in that vicinity in summer, when 

 the birds were moulting. During the rainy season in sum- 

 mer the shallow bays and lagoons frequently became too 

 deep for convenient feeding, and the birds strayed out on to 

 other flats. The natives were in the habit of taking large 

 numbers of them for food, during the moulting season, when 

 the birds cannot fly, the feathers being so few and the body 

 so heavy. The plan adopted is for a number of persons to 

 go out with long ropes, surround a flock, drive them 

 together in a huddle, then stretch a line of rope around 

 them, and at a given signal rush toward the flock. The 

 birds being unable to fly in their efforts to escape attempt 

 to run past their pursuers, but are tripped up by the rope. 

 When thrown down into the water it takes them some mo- 

 ments to regain their feet, and thus their captors gather 

 them in. Fifty years ago they used to be taken in large num- 

 bers and carried to Key West, where they were sold for food. 

 The same plan of capturing is now adopted in some of the 

 West India Islands, and if it is not prohibited will soon 

 exterminate the species. The flesh of Flamingoes is not 

 specially desirable for food, being strongly flavored with the 

 mollusks on which they feed, and very oily too — I have taken 

 a pint of pure grease from the body of a single bird. But 

 the natives of the West Indies will eat almost anything — 

 even j-oung Man-o'-war birds and Boobies. Our sail that day 

 brought us well up to the eastward, and late in the afternoon 

 we entered a bay about seven by fifteen miles in extent, almost 

 every square rod of which was shallow enough to be waded 

 by the Flamingo. The bottom largely consisted of a soft, 

 sticky clay, as though composed of fine particles of dis- 



