Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/198

 Flamingoes’ Nests

BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN

“'ilh photographs 1mm nature by thr- author

OT very many years ago, so little did we know about the nesting habits of the Flamingo, it was commonly believed that the incubating bird straddled the nest when hatching, letting her legs hang down on either sidel The observav tions of H. H. Johnston* and Abel Chapma on the European species (Pbmnimpteru: (unit/uarum) and of Sir

Henry Blake‘i on the American species (Pi ruber) proved the absurdity

of this belief by showing that incubating birds folded their legs under them

in the usual way, but we still know very little about the nesting habits of these birds.

Largely with the object of studying the Flamingo on its nesting grounds I went to the Bahamas in April of the present year, accompanied by Mri Louis Agassiz Fuertes. the well-known artist. At Nassau we joined Mr. J. Lewis Bonhote, of Cambridge, England. Mr. Bonhote was formerly Governor's secretary in the Bahamas, when he acquired a knowledge of the islands which was of the greatest value to us. He had already made a reconnaissance in search of Flamingoes' nesting retreats, and, with the aid of one of the few natives who was familiar with‘their whereabouts, had succeeded in reaching a locality on Andros Island, at which the birds had bred the previous year.

It is not my purpose to recount here the various adventures which hefel us while cruising about the Bahamas in a very comfortable 5o-ton schooner, and I proceed at once to a description of our experiences with the Flamingo.

Flamingoes are late breeders. It is not improbable that the time of their nesting is dependent upon the rainy season, which, in the Bahamas, begins about the middle of May. Consequently we deferred our trip to the locality previously visited by Mr. Bonhote until the middle of “day. Then we anchored our schooner at the mouth of a certain channel. and. loading our small boats with needed supplies, rowed for the better part of a day, pitching our tents toward evening on a low, slightly shelving shore with a background of dense. scrubby vegetation. Exploration of the sur- rounding country showed that it was regularly frequented by Flamiugoes in numbers during the nesting season. Within a radius of a mile no less than eight groups of nests were discovered. They showed successive stages of decay, from the old nests, which had almost disappeared before the action of the elements, to those which were in an excellent state of preservation

‘l’Ninrteenlh Contun'. um. u. Mm.
 * Thc Ibis. issv, p. m: rim. 9. w:-

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