FLAMINGO. 4'i 



and are sometimes seen swimming' in the Bay, near the river. Are 

 every where to be met witli on the African Coast, and adjacent Isles, 

 quite to the Cape of Good Hope;* they breed in the Cape de Verd 

 Islands, particularly in that of Sal ;f in some seasons they frequent 

 Aleppo, % and parts adjacent; also the Persian side of the Caspian 

 Sea, and from thence, along the Western Coast, as far as the Wolga 

 though at uncertain times, and chiefly in considerable flocks, coming 

 from the north-east, mostly in October and November ; but on the 

 wind changing, they totally disappear. § 



The nest of the Flamingo is of a very curious construction, and 

 singularly placed; it is made of mud, in shape of a hillock, with a 

 cavity at the top; in this the female lays two white eggs,|| the size 

 of those of a Goose, but more elongated : the elevation of the nest 

 is such, as to admit of the bird's sitting on it conveniently, or rather 

 standing, as the legs are placed one on each side at full length.^ The 

 young cannot fly till full grown, but run very fast: they are very 

 shy, by no means suffering any one to approach near enough to 

 shoot them, yet Dampier, with two or more in company, killed 

 fourteen at once, which was effected by secreting themselves;** and 

 we learn from Catesby, that a person who can stand concealed, may 

 shoot as many as he pleases, for they will not rise at the report of a 

 gun, but the survivors will stand, as if astonished, and continue on the 

 spot, till most of them are killed. They are common in the warmer 

 situations of America, frequenting the same latitudes as in other 

 parts of the globe. Are met with in Peru and Chili, as well as at 



* In Zee-Coow River. — Phil. Trans. Doctor Sparrman met with large flocks between 

 Table and Simon's Bay, near Alpben, in April, seeking their food in pools and puddles that 

 were drying up. These, he says, were of a snow white, and the wings of a flaming rosy 

 hue. — Voy. i. p. 30. Once plentiful in the Isle of France. — Voy. to Mauritius, p. 66. 



■f Damp. Voy.\. p. 70. £ Russ. Alep. p. 69. § Decouv. russ. ii. 248 



|j Said to never lay more than three, and seldom fewer. — Phil. Trans. 



% They will sometimes lay four eggs, on a projecting part of a low rock, if sufficiently 

 convenient to admit of the legs being placed one on each side.— Lin. 



** Davies talks of the gunner disguising himself in an ox's hide, and by this means 

 getting within gun-shot. — Hist. Barb. p. 88. 



