508 
THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. 
and the legs and feet are pinkish-red. The true scarlet flamingo is an Amer¬ 
ican species, with the general color of the plumage a full vermillion scarlet. 
Flocks of flamingoes, as they may be seen by the lakes, form one of the most 
wonderful sights in the world. They number tens of thousands, and massed 
upon the water look like huge rosy islands. When in the air they may be 
compared to a big cloud at sunset. 
Although a wader, the flamingo can swim well in deep water. Their 
chief food consists of various water-plants, which are pulled up from beneath 
the surface. When feeding, the flamingo turns its head the wrong way up, 
in which position its bent beak forms a most efficient spoon-like instrument. 
The nests are in the form of round basin-shaped elevations of mud placed 
in close continuity on the mud-flats. They may vary from two to six inches 
in height, but the majority are very shallow, and present somewhat the 
appearance of a number of plates spread over the plain. Other single nests 
are situated in the water, and are in consequence much taller. The eggs, 
two in number, have a chalky external coating, beneath which is a greenish 
blue shell. During incubation the birds have their long red legs doubled 
under their bodies, the knees projecting as far as beyond the tail, and their 
graceful necks neatly coiled away among their back feathers, like a sitting 
swan, with their heads resting on their breasts. 
Crane—Cranes are birds of large size, with plumage either gray or white. 
They are found on extensive plains and swamps and are capable of long 
and powerful flight. In length, the common crane measures from 43 to 
48 inches and is found in Europe and Central and Northern Asia, visiting 
India, Persia, South China, and Northern Africa in winter, and passing 
through Japan on its migrations. Its plumage is gray; the naked part of 
the crown reddish, the sides of the face and neck white. The windpipe 
is lengthened and arranged in coils which enables them to utter, when 
alarmed or on the wing, a loud trumpet-like call, which can be heard at a 
distance of a couple of miles. They never perch on trees,—all the cranes 
build on the ground; their huge nests being placed in swamps, and the two 
or three eggs having a greenish color, more or less spotted with reddish. 
White Stork—In this long-legged, long-billed bird the plumage is a pure 
white, with the exception of the greater wing-coverts, which are black. The 
beak and legs are red and the bare space around the eye is black. The length 
. varies from forty-two to forty-four inches. With the exception of the extreme 
north, the stork ranges over the whole of Europe, although not breeding 
everywhere, and being merely an irregular visitor to the British Islands. 
