THE FLAMINGO. 
149 
soldier-like appearance, in addition to further mili- 
tary habits they seem very generally to adopt. Not 
only do they always assemble in flocks, hut they 
form, in long lines of regular rank and file, as well 
for the purpose of fishing, as when they repose on 
the strand. Still further, after the manner of expe- 
rienced soldiers, they post sentinels, who keep a 
good look-out, and if anything suspicious attracts 
their notice, immediately send forth a cry like the 
sound of a trumpet, when the whole corps moves off 
in regular marching order. 
In the river Inhambau, on the eastern coast of 
Africa, the officers of Captain Owens surveying 
ships found them so numerous that every shoal 
was covered with them, “looking,” to use their 
words, “ at a distance, like large variegated plains, 
and, upon a nearer approach, resembling files of 
soldiers. When the sun was shining upon them, 
nothing could surpass the beauty of their brilliant 
and dazzling appearance.” 
Table XXY. (See vol. i., p. 22.) 
Order 5. Waders. Tribe 4. Tenuirostres*, or 
Slender-billed. 
By some naturalists, the birds of this Table have 
been classed amongst the long-billed birds ( Longi - 
* As there is a division of Tenuirostral birds in the 
Passerine Order, this tribe, to avoid confusion, is often 
designated as Longirostral ; most of the birds composing it 
having long bills. We have adhered, however, to Dume- 
ril’s title. 
