THE FLAMINGO. 179 



Esteemed by son>e as delicate food. 



ones is black and hard; though Dampier says, 

 well tasted ; but that of the young ones is much 

 better, and esteemed as excellent by many. But 

 of all oilier delicacies, the flamingo's tongue is 

 the most celebrated. "A dish of flamingos' 

 tongues/' says M. de Buffon, " is a feast for an 

 emperor." In fact, the Roman emperors consi- 

 dered them as the highest luxury; and we have 

 an account of one of them, who procured fifteen 

 hundred flamingos' tongues to be served up in a 

 single dish. The tongue of the flamingo, which 

 is so much sought after, is a good deal larger 

 than that of any other bird whatever. Its bill is 

 like a large black box, of an irregular figure, 

 and filled with a tongue which is black and 

 gristly, and which has long been reckoned 

 among the epicures, as a most rare delicacy, 

 from possessing a very pleasing and peculiar fla- 

 vour. Be this as it may, a respectable author 

 says, " It is probable that the beauty and scar- 

 city of the bird, might be the first inducements 

 to studious gluttony to fix upon its tongue as 

 meat for the table." What Dampier asserts of 

 the goodness of its flesh, cannot so well be relied 

 on ; for Dampier was often in want of provisions, 

 and then naturally thought any thing good that 

 could be eaten, and possibly might estimate the 

 delicacy of any fresh food in proportion to the 

 wants it happened to supply; but even he, how- 

 ever, agrees with Labat, that the flesh is black, 

 tough, and fishy ; so that we can hardly give him 

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