J. B. Housden—“ Where the Bahamas Ride ”



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pigeons which in 1805 were so numerous that he saw schooners at the

wharves in New York City loaded in bulk with these pigeons, which

were sold at the rate of a few cents per dozen.”


The last Passenger Pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens


in 1914.


The other case, “ A Flamingo Colony in the Bahamas, West

Indies” is one of the largest and most interesting groups of birds I have

ever seen.


Near the case are pamphlets, “ For the Visitor to Take Away,”

“ A City of Birds.”


Before the studies for this group were made, very little was known

about the nesting habits of Flamingoes. For this reason, and because

of the belief that a reproduction of a Flamingo city (beyond question

the most remarkable sight in the world of birds) would possess excep¬

tional interest, an expedition was dispatched to the Bahamas in 1902,

to find Flamingoes on their grounds. It was unsuccessful; but in 1904

the search was resumed, and on this occasion the birds were discovered,

and from an artificial blind, concealed in the very heart of their rookery,

containing 2,000 birds, a series of unique photographs and observations

were made.


The birds began to lay their eggs in May. Their nests are constructed

by scooping up mud with the bill and patting it down with bill and feet.

The nests are raised to a height of from 8 to 14 inches to protect their

contents from a subsequent rise in the water.


Both sexes incubate, one by day the other by night. The young

are hatched covered with down like young ducks. They remain in

the nest three or four days, and during this period are fed by the

parents on predigested juices of a mollusk of the genus Cerithium. They

also eat the shell of the egg from which they have so recently emerged.


The singular shape of the bill of the adult Flamingo is related to

the manner in which it secures the small spiral Cerithium shells, which,

in the Bahamas, appear to constitute its only food. To obtain them

the bill is pressed into the soft mud until its point turns upwards.

The lower mandible moves rapidly, forcing out the mud and water

through the channels along the sides of the bill and leaving the shells.


The bill of the young Flamingo is essentially straight, but when



