C4 
A BIRD-HAUNT. 
l.XAMIN(»OES. 
are plentiful. The insectivorous 
birds are likewise gregarious, and 
assemble in localities infested by 
ants and other insects ; numbers of 
distinct species, belonging to dif- 
ferent families, combining in the 
chase or the search after food. Then 
the bushes and trees seem all on a 
sudden to swarm with wings. Hun- 
dreds are moving to and fro in a very 
passion of activity ; " woodpeckers 
and Dendrocolaptidse (from species 
no larger than a sparrow to others 
the size of a crow) running up the 
tree trunks ; tanagers, ant-thrushes, 
humming-birds, flycatchers, and bar- 
bets flitting about the leaves and 
lower branches. The bustling crowd 
loses no time, and although moving 
in concert, each bird is occupied on 
its own account in searching bark 
or leaf or twig ; the barbets visiting 
every clayey nest of termites on the 
trees which lie in the line of march." 
On the weedy shores of some of 
the West Indian Islands, w^iere the 
water lies shallow on mud-bank or 
sand-shoal, the red flamingo makes 
his home. There he and his fellows 
may be seen, standing in the w-ater, 
and drawn up in long line, like the 
rank and file of a regiment, with 
sentinels on either side, whose trum- 
pet-like call gives timely notice oi 
approaching danger. So Montgomery describes them :— 
