208 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
wary, and no one had been able to get within gunshot 
of it, as it was able to fly extremely well, and never 
allowed any boat to approach near enough to it. The 
coast-guardsmen frequently shot at it with their rifles. 
When I heard that the bird was being thus shot at, and 
had been at the mouth of the river so long, I sent a keeper 
of mine (a naval pensioner and a capital hand with the 
punt-gun) in the gunning-punt, to try and get the bird for 
me. In this he succeeded, but he was not able to get 
nearer than about 120 yards. He was laying the punt-gun 
on the bird at about that distance, hoping he might get 
nearer and shoot it with the shoulder-gun, when the 
flamingo, being on the alert and very wild, rose on the 
wing, and my keeper Goff fired the punt-gun at him and 
brought him down with three shots through him. The 
bird is a very fine one, quite pink all over, and with a good 
scarlet wing. There was nothing to show that it could 
have been at any time in captivity, for its wings were 
quite perfect, and it was extremely wild and could fly well, 
taking long flights. There had been a great gale from the 
south-east about a fortnight before, and it is my belief 
that the flamingo had been blown by this gale to the 
British shores. Whether he came from North Africa or 
from the South of France (mouth of the Rhone) it is 
impossible to tell ; but that the bird was a wild one, and 
had been blown to England by stress of weather, I have 
no doubt." 
This specimen is preserved at the Palace House, 
Beaulieu. There is every reason to consider that it is 
a genuine wild bird. 
