AMERICAN FLAMINGO. 
171 
flight they resemble Ibises, and they usually move in lines, with the neck 
and legs fully extended, alternately flapping their wings for twenty or thirty 
yards and sailing over a like space. Before alighting they generally sail 
round the place for several minutes, when their glowing tints become most 
conspicuous. They very rarely alight on the shore itself, unless, as I am 
told, during the breeding season, but usually in the water, and on shallow 
banks, whether of mud or of sand, from which, however, they often wade 
to the shores. Their walk is stately and slow, and their cautiousness 
extreme, so that it is very difficult to approach them, as their great height 
enables them to see and watch the movements of their various enemies at a 
distance. When travelling over the water, they rarely fly at a greater 
height than eight or ten feet ; but when passing over the land, no matter how 
short the distance may be, they, as well as Ibises and Herons, advance at a 
considerable elevation. I well remember that on one occasion, when near 
Key West, I saw’ one of them flying directly towards a small hammock of 
mangroves, to which I was near, and towards which I made, in full expecta- 
tion of having a tine shot. When the bird came within a hundred and 
twenty yards, it rose obliquely, and wdien directly over my head, was almost 
as far off. I fired, but with no other effect than that of altering its course, 
and inducing it to rise still higher. It continued to fly at this elevation 
until nearly half a mile off, when it sailed downwards, and resumed its 
wonted low flight. 
Although my friends Dr. John Bachman, Dr. Wilson, and William 
Kunhardt, Esq., of Charleston, have been at considerable trouble in 
endeavouring to procure accounts of the nidification of these birds and their 
habits during the breeding season, and although they, as well as myself, 
have made many inquiries by letter respecting them, of persons residing in 
Cuba, all that has been transmitted to me has proved of little interest. I 
am not, however, the less obliged by the kind intentions of these indivi- 
duals, one of whom, A. Mallory, Esq., thus writes to Captain Croft. 
“ Matanzas, April 20, 1837. 
“ Capt. Croft, 
“Dear Sir, — I have made inquiry of several of the fishermen, and salt- 
rakers, who frequent the keys to the windward of this place, in regard to 
the habits of the Flamingo, and have obtained the following information, 
which will be found, I believe, pretty correct : 1st, They build upon nearly 
all the Keys to the windward, the nearest of which is called Collocino 
Lignas. 2ndly, It builds upon the ground. 3dly, The nest is an irregular 
mass of earth dug in the salt ponds, and entirely surrounded by water. It 
is scooped up from the immediate vicinity to the height of two or three feet, 
