Flamingo

“ The flamingo truly has a brilliant plumage, but never a brilliant environment. No one who has been intimately acquainted with these birds in their haunts could have conceived such a sentiment; for anything less brilliant than the bleak and tawny monotony which characterizes the chosen homes of the flamingo it would be impossible to imagine. ”

“ THE great pink flamingo roused from his resting-place among the sedges when the noise began. At first he only stirred sleepily, and wondered, half awake, at the unusual sounds; but as they increased, curiosity began to trouble him. Party after party in launches or bright-hued gondolas glided past, all gay and chattering, and full of excitement about something, he did not know what. ”

“ The nest of the flamingo is a cone-shaped heap of mud, sometimes as much as two feet high, with a little hollow at the top to contain eggs. Thousands of these birds nest together, and when they are sitting they look just like a great rosy-white cloud resting upon the ground. And if they are startled and fly away, their nests look as though hundreds of children had been making big sand-pies on the beach and neatly arranging them in rows. ”

“ Here the glaring scarlet flamingo, drawn up as in battle array on the plain, and there the gaudy parrot, glittering in every variety of brilliant hue, like a gay bouquet of clustered flowers amid the trees, or the delicate, irised, spirit-like humming birds, flitting, like animated flowerets from blossom to blossom, and coqueting with the fairest and sweetest, as if rose-hearts were only made to furnish honey-dew for their dainty taste—what can exceed the fairy splendor of such a scene! ”

“ How strange it is that the flamingo, a bird which never seems happy unless half-way up to his knees in water, should so long delay the period of incubation: for, long before eggs could be laid and hatched in these nests and the young reared, the full summer-heats of June and July would have set in, the water would have entirely disappeared, and the flamingoes would be left stranded in the midst of a scorching desert of dry, sun-baked mud. ”

“ The only saunterers besides ourselves were the flamingo, who, cautiously, timorously picked his way—as if he were conscious he was only a bunch of feathers hoisted on stilts; the white parrot, who was wabbling across the lawn to a favorite perch in the leaves of a tropical palm; and the peacock, whose train had been spread with a due regard to effect across a bed of purple irises, with a view to annihilating the brilliancy of their rival hues. ”

“ The beak of the flamingo is not less remarkable than its legs, and it seems puzzling, until we know the truth, how the bird can gather up its food from mud and water, with that awkward turned-in bill. ”

“ Hereabouts the woods and open glades are crowded with bird life. Storks, cranes, ibises, herons, pelicans, and flamingoes abound in the low, wet grounds, marshaling themselves in long files, like trained bodies of men, along the shore of the fresh-water ponds. The flamingo is called the English soldier-bird by the natives because of its habits, and its pink epaulets, which tip the body joints of its otherwise snow-white wings. ”

“ CHAPTER XIV. A DESPERATE EXPERIENCE. THE Flamingo sped on across the sapphire waters of uncharted lagoons that reflected, mirrorlike, the leaning palms and the dense green tangle of jungle thicket and the flaming flowers. An occasional egret winged aloft, and great armies of fiddler crabs scuttled across the exposed sand bars. ”

“ Instead of building a nest on the ground, where she would find it impossible to cower closely enough over her eggs to keep them warm, the flamingo heaps up a hill of earth so high, that she can sit comfortably upon it with her long legs dangling, one on each side. ”

“ The flamingo is both wader and swimmer. It has long legs, the better to wade with, and webbed feet admirably adapted to natation. The bird certainly wades by preference. I have never seen it in water sufficiently deep to render swimming necessary or even possible. Those who have been more fortunate state that the swimming movements of the flamingo resemble those of a swan. I doubt whether flamingos ever swim from choice, but the webbed feet are likely to be useful, especially in the case of young birds, when flamingos are swept off their feet by the wind in a violent storm. ”

“ The Flamingo is one of the most curious of the tribe of Waders. The most fanciful imagination would fail in picturing to itself anything more odd than the conformation of this bird. Extremely long legs, supporting quite a small body; a neck corresponding in length with the legs; a bill rather long than otherwise, sharply curved and broken, as it were, in the middle, contrived probably to discourage those who are tempted to describe it; wings of a middling size, and a short tail—such are the distinctive features of this remarkable-looking bird. ”

“ Somehow, the birds of that place were no more afraid of the children than the cat is afraid of you, and they knew places where they could see the flamingo with its scarlet cloak, the cowbird all glossy violet, the lapwings making a drumming music, gray and white scissortail with feathers a foot long, and red oven-birds. ”

“ The flamingo is a gregarious animal, frequenting the sea-shore and the marshes occasionally covered by the sea. When the flamingo sets out upon a fishing expedition, the birds range themselves in file, so as, at a distance, to produce the appearance of an extended line of soldiers; nor do they employ this arrangement only when they seek their prey, but also in a state of repose. Sometimes, however, a flamingo may be found alone, or with only a single companion, especially when at a distance from the sea. ”

“ When flying, the flamingo seems to keep his head moving steadily forward at an even pace, although the ropelike neck undulates with the slow beating of the wings. I could not be sure that it was not an optical delusion. Nevertheless, I thought the heavy body was propelled irregularly, while the head moved forward at uniform speed, the difference being caught up in the undulations of the neck.
Flamingos on Lake Parinacochas, and Mt. Sarasara
The flamingo is an amusing bird to watch. ”

“ First of all, there is the well-known red and white flamingo, which is quite an extraordinary bird, for it has extremely long, stilt-like legs, and an extremely long, snake-like neck, which it can twist and coil about as easily as if it were just a piece of rope. ”

“ At the top is a hollow just large enough to hold her two [91] or three white eggs. A full-grown flamingo stands between five and six feet high. There is another species of this bird much smaller, called the little flamingo. The Romans ate these birds, and Heliogabalus, the profane Emperor, delighted in a dish of their tongues, which are large, considering the size of the bird. In modern times, however, the flesh is rejected as fishy, but the feathers are highly valued. ”

“ Two species of flamingo occur in India. These are [92] known as Phœnicopterus roseus and P. minor, or the common and the lesser flamingo. As the former is the one most often seen in India let us concentrate our attention on it. It is as tall as many a man, and measures over four feet from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail. Of these four feet the greater portion consists of neck, which is very supple; a flamingo when preening its feathers often twists the neck so that it assumes the shape of a figure of eight. The general hue of the bird is white tipped with rosy pink ”

“ When hatching the eggs, the Flamingo sits astride on this novel imitation of a throne, with her legs hanging down on each side. The young ones run about very soon after they are hatched, but it is some time before they are able to fly—not, indeed, until they are clothed with their full plumage. At two years old they assume the more brilliant colors of the adult Bird.
The Flamingo is found in all the warm and temperate regions of the globe. On certain islands off the American continent they exist in such numbers that navigators have given them the name of the Flamingo Islands. ”

“ If inhabitants of the world's floor prove to see the more aerial species against the sky, the flamingo's aquatic enemies, dwelling below this floor, see denizens of the upper air always against the sky. The flamingo question, then, has come down to why he is colored for dawn and sunset sky more or less at the expense of his all-day matching. ”

“ As we were employed in making beds for the flax and placing it in them, we observed several nests of the flamingo. These are most curiously and skilfully made of glutinous clay, so strong that they can neither be overturned nor washed away. They are formed in the shape of blunted cones, and placed point downwards; at the upper and broader end is built a little platform to contain the eggs, on which the female bird sits, with her long legs in the water on either side, until the little birds are hatched and can take to the water. ”

“ Of the flamingoes themselves we secured several more lovely specimens; during two mornings devoted to shooting them, we bagged eight, six adults in rich rosy plumage, and two immature. Flamingoes are always shy and watchful birds, and their great height gives them a commanding view of threatening dangers: but there are degrees in intensity of wildness, and despite the unquestionable difficulty of flamingo-shooting, we would certainly not place these long-necked birds in the first rank among impracticable wild-fowl. ”

“ The flamingo, to counteract the extraordinary length of its legs, is provided with a proportionately long neck, so that in feeding in shallow water the crown of the head becomes inverted and the upper mandible brought into contact with the bottom ”

“ The flamingo is a very tall bird, taller than a man when standing up. The flamingo's legs are long and thin, and the neck is also long. The long neck and the long legs are very useful to him. He stands in the water on his legs, which look almost like a pair of stilts ”

“ The feathers on the body of the flamingo are white, delicately tinted with rose-color. Its wings, which are very large, are of the most brilliant scarlet, and the long quills are black. It is a very sociable bird, and is always seen in flocks of several hundred. ”

“ The flamingo arranges its nest in a peculiar way, as its long legs would not adapt themselves to the ordinary style of nest-building. The nests are placed upon the ground, are built solely of coarsely-tempered mud, and are very curiously shaped, being like narrow, lengthened cones. ”

“ In the same marsh, perhaps, standing with unequalled grace upon the longest legs known in this world, is a troop of giant birds as wonderful as the pelican, but how opposite! The beautiful flamingo is a bird of feeble intellect, delicate appetite, and genteel tastes. It cannot eat fish, for its slender throat would scarcely admit a pea. Besides, the idea of catching anything, or even picking up food from the ground, does not occur to its simple mind. Its diet consists of certain small crustaceans, classed by naturalists with water-fleas, which abound in brackish water ”

“ When thousands of flamingos in a colony are standing around the lake or by the river, where they live, it is a very grand sight from a distance. The flamingo's feathers are a bright red in color, with white or pink at the edges; so the thousands of flamingos look like an army of soldiers with red coats. ”

“ Then the bird erects its long neck to swallow the selected food. When flying, flamingos present a striking and beautiful sight, with legs and neck stretched out straight, looking like white and rosy or scarlet crosses with black arms. Not less fascinating is a flock of these sociable birds when at rest, standing on one or both legs, with their long necks twisted or coiled upon the body in any conceivable position.
The nest is likewise peculiar. It is built of mud, a somewhat conical structure rising above the water according to the depth, of which the cone is from a few inches to 2 ft. ”

“ It is true we have never seen a Flamingo actually engaged in incubating; but at Mensala, in Egypt, where we obtained a full-grown egg from the oviduct of a dead female, we procured the following information concerning the mode of incubation. The Flamingo makes her nest in shallow places in the water, or, as the Arabs assert, upon flat insular spots, overgrown with low vegetation. In the first case the nest is a conical heap of mud scraped together by the feet of the bird, and raised so high that its top is a foot and a half above the water. ”

“ The Flamingo has a curious way of feeding: it immerses the beak, and by means of a rapid continuous movement of the mandibles passes a current of water through the mouth, where the minutest insects and particles of floating matter are arrested by the teeth. ”

“ This habit at once attracts the flamingoes, and very frequently one or more of them advance towards the cariamas, and standing erect over the bird, by a slight up-and-down movement of the head, raise up into its mouth a considerable quantity of red coloured fluid. As soon as the upper part of the throat and mouth becomes filled, it will drop or run down from the corners of the flamingo’s mouth; the flamingo then bends its long neck over the gaping cariama and pours this fluid into the mouth, and as frequently on the back of the cariama. ”

“ And, so far as the handsome father could learn by inquiry among the oldest birds of Flamingotown, no one had ever heard of a white flamingo. But when the neighbors cast aspersions, and hinted that there must be some common blood in that family, then the father grew angry and the gentle mother had all she could do to keep him from killing little White Wing. ”