THE GEESE, SWANS, AND DUCKS. 
22J 
Flamingo in England are undoubted, and no evidence has 
been forthcoming that in any of the cases they were escaped 
birds. Tlic first was taken in Staffordshire, in September, 1881, 
and another was shot near Beaulieu in Hampshire, in November, 
1883, having been flying about for a fortnight after a great gale 
from the south-west, which may have driven the bird to our 
shores. Another was seen in the Hoy, near New Romney in 
Kent, in August, 1884, by Captain Shelley ; and the old sports- 
man must have imagined himself back in Egypt, when he saw a 
Flamingo flying past him on the Kentish coast. Another was 
shot in the Isle of Sheppey, in August, 1873, but Mr. Howard 
Saunders thinks that this may have been an individual which 
escaped from the Zoological Gardens on the 19th of July in 
the same year. Although we now look upon the occurrence of 
a Flamingo in England as something extraordinary, palaeonto- 
logists show that in ancient times they were common enough 
in Central Europe, and even in the South of Flngland. 
Range outside the British Islands. — The Flamingo is a bird of 
Southern Europe, whence it extends eastwards from the Medi- 
terranean to Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia, and it is also 
found breeding in India, and extends to Ceylon, as well as all 
over Africa. It has been observed occasionally in Switzerland, 
and on the Rhine it has been seen in flocks. 
Hahits. — The Flamingo breeds in the salt-marshes of the 
Camargue in Southern France, and in Southern Spain and 
other suitable localities in Southern Europe and the Caspian 
district. The nest is made of mud, and the bird sits on it with 
its long legs doubled up under it, and its neck twisted round, 
so as to rest on its back. The eggs are two in number, and are 
of a chalky-white. Axis, 3‘55-37 inches ; diam., 1-15. 
THE GEESE, SWANS, AND DUCKS. 
ORDER ANSERIFORMES. 
The members of this Order have a bridged, or desraognathous, 
palate, and their downy young are able to run about in a few 
hours. Besides these characters, w'hich Mr. Seebohm believes 
to be thoroughly diagnostic of the Order, there are many others, 
chiefly anatomical, which distinguish the Ducks and Geese. 
