226 
RED FLAMINGO. 
twist the neck in such a manner that the upper part of the bill 
is applied to the ground;* during this one of them is said to 
stand centinel, and the moment he sounds the alarm, the whole 
flock take wing. This bird when at rest stands on one leg, the 
other being drawn up close to the body, with the head placed 
under the wing on that side of the body it stands on. 
“The flesh of these birds is esteemed pretty good meat; and 
the young thought by some equal to that of a Partridge;! but 
the greatest dainty is the tongue, which was esteemed by the 
ancients an exquisite morsel. J Are sometimes caught young 
and brought up tame; but are ever impatient of cold, and in 
this state will seldom live a great while, gradually losing their 
colour, flesh and appetite; and dying for want of that food which 
in a state of nature, at large, they were abundantly supplied 
with.” 
* Linnaeus. Brisson. 
t Commonly fat and accounted delicate. Davies’s Hist. Barbad. p. 88. 
The inhabitants of Provence always throw away the flesh, as it tastes fishy, 
and only make use of the feathers as ornaments to other birds at particular 
entertainments. Dillons’s Trav. p. 374. 
% See Plin. IX, cap. 48. 
