176 
bed of color before me, transforming it 
into a writhing mass of flaming serpents ; 
then, as the alarm-note continued and was 
taken up by a thousand throats, the birds, 
like a vast congregation, with dignified 
precision of movement, gravely arose, 
pressing their bills into the nests to assist 
themselves. 
Under circumstances of this kind the 
birds rarely left their nests, and it was 
dificult to determine the cause of their 
alarm. Often, doubtless, it was baseless, 
but at times it was due to a circling turkey- 
buzzard, the gaunt ogre of flamingodom, 
which, in the absence of the parent birds, 
eats not only eggs but nestlings. 
Possibly some slight sound from my tent, 
where, with ill-controlled excitement, I was 
making photograph after photograph, may 
have occasioned the deep-voiced, warning 
huh-huh-huh. 
I had so often fruitlessly stalked these 
wary birds across the swash that I was 
tempted to step out from my blind and 
address a word of triumph to the assembled 
multitude ; but so sudden an alarm might 
not only have caused the destruction of 
many eggs, but might have resulted in the 
birds deserting their homes. Consequently, 
several hours after entering the blind, Mrs. 
Chapman, by arrangement, returned, the 
birds retreated to the lagoon, and I left my 
hiding-place without their being the wiser. 
Encouraged by this surprisingly success- 
ful attempt to study these wary birds at 
close range, I determined to enter the very 
heart of their city. Consequently, when, at 
our approach the following morning, the 
birds left their nests, the blind was hur- 
riedly moved from its position at the border 
of the rookery to a point near its center, 
where a buttonwood-bush afforded it some 
concealment. 
Nests were now within arm’s-reach; the 
blind itself covered an abandoned one. It 
seemed wholly beyond the bounds of prob- 
ability that the birds would take their places 
so near me; but, as before, the departure 
of my assistant was the signal to advance. 
The great red army, with clanging of 
horns, again approached, reached, and this 
time surrounded me. I was engulfed in 
color and clarionings. ‘The wildest ima- 
gination could not have conceived of so 
thrilling an experience. Seated on the de- 
serted nest, | myself seemed to have be- 
come a flamingo. 
THE CENTURY MAGAZINE 
The blind, strange to say, aroused no 
suspicion. Without hesitation and with 
evident recognition of their home, the 
splendid creatures reoccupied their nests. 
For a time I feared detection. It was im- 
possible to look from the blind in any di- 
rection without seeming to meet the glance 
of a dozen yellow-eyed birds at my thresh- 
old. Fortunately, the uproar of their united 
voices was so great that the various sounds 
made in the manipulation of my two cam- 
eras were barely audible even to my ears. 
With the wind in the right quarter, this 
honking chorus could be plainly heard at 
our camp. The adults utter three distinct 
calls, all goose-like in character. The usual 
note of the young bird is a whistling crow. 
The birds of this portion of the rookery 
had evidently begun to nest at an earlier 
date than those in the section before vis- 
ited. Many of the nests contained an egg 
from which the chick was emerging, and 
in others were young evidently several 
days old; while birds which had left the 
nest were running about with their parents. 
On leaving the shell, and before the 
plumage was dry, some chicks had suff- 
cient strength to respond to their evidently 
instinctive sense of fear. At my approach 
they crawled to the edge of the nest and 
dropped over to the ground or water below, 
though beyond this they could progress but 
little. Chicks a day old jumped nimbly 
from the nest and ran or swam rapidly 
away. On subsequent days it became ne- 
cessary to enter my blind with caution, to 
avoid frightening the young in the near-by 
nests. At the best, some would leave their 
homes and scurry away, but they returned 
to the place of their birth apparently in re- 
sponse to a call uttered by the parent as it 
stood on or near the deserted nest. ‘The lit- 
tle chick reached the top of the nest unaided 
by the parent bird, using its bill, feet, and 
wings in the effort. The thumb and index- 
finger are both provided with a somewhat 
recurved nail, which in this connection 
may be functional. The parents evidently 
recognized their own offspring, and when 
a youngster lost his way his nape was 
promptly pinched by every old bird within 
whose reach he came, a method which 
was effective in keeping him on the move 
until he found his own home. 
The young stay in the nest until they are 
three or four days old. During this time 
they are brooded by the parents, one or the 
