ROSY FLAMINGO. 43 



Temminck, Nuttall, and other modern writers describe 

 the mode of nesting in the same way as Latham and 

 Savi. 



"The Flamingo feeds," says Nuttall, "on molluscous 

 animals, spawn, and insects, which they are in the habit 

 of fishing up by means of their long necks, turning 

 the bill upside down to take advantage of its peculiar 

 and otherwise awkward form; they even assist themselves 

 often in walking, by placing the flat part of their upper 

 mandible upon the ground in the manner of a support. 



"They sleep standing upon one leg, with the neck 

 folded back upon the body, and the head reclined under 

 the wing. They run swiftly, but never swim from 

 choice. Their scent and hearing are also very acute." 



My figure of the egg of the Rosy Flamingo is from 

 a specimen kindly sent me by M. De Selys-Longchamps, 

 the distinguished author of the "Faune Beige," and 

 well known not only for his devoted zeal in the cause 

 of natural science, but also for his kind and munificent 

 liberality to its professors or students. The egg was 

 obtained from Marseilles, a well-knoAvn locality of this 

 bird. 



The adult male has the wing primaries and secondaries 

 black, and the upper and lower wing coverts and some 

 feathers on the flanks a bright rosy red, lighter along 

 the border of the wing, and extending, though paler, 

 to the upper tail coverts. All the rest of the plumage 

 is of a delicate rosy cream-colour, lighter on the back, 

 flanks, and thighs. Beak red, paler at the base, with 

 its distal third black; thighs and tarsi rosy red, and 

 covered with transverse scales about the third of an 

 inch broad, until near the feet, when they become 

 narrower; iris bright yellow. 



Female rather less than the male, and of a lighter 



