os BOT eae Ss, 
4 
Their food is {mall thell-fifh, the {pawn of fith, 
and fuch infeéts as are found in water. They 
plunge their heads into the water, the top of 
the upper mandible refts upon the ground, as if 
~ they were ftanding upon their heads; and they 
are continually moving the mud with their feet, 
to carry it with their food into their bills, and there 
the jagged edges of the mandibles ferve to keep in 
the eggs of the gnats and flies, and fuffer the mud 
and water to ftrain through. 
~The lakes. of South America abound in thefe 
eggs as much as the lakes of Lapland, in which 
Mr. Maupertuis fays, that he faw them in great 
quantities, and that they were very much like 
grains of millet. 
Flamingoes are very fond of fith, and the rough 
edges of their bills enable them to hold this flip- 
pery prey. 
They fifh in flocks, and form themfelves in a 
line; and being red, they look at.a diftance like 
} foldiers. 
They place fentinels to warn them of any dan- 
| ger, as almoft all birds do, who fly and feed toge- 
ther. ‘The fentinels are continually looking about ; 
their heads are in conftant motion, and the mo- 
‘| ment they fee any thing that they fufpe@, they 
give the alarm, by making a loud noife, and fly 
A 3 “away, 

