Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/139

 in regular ranks. Aurora herself was never adorned with more roseate tints than the wings of these birds, they seemed literally to glow with pink and carmine. The name of the Flamingo, both in Greek and Latin, was derived from the magnificent hues of their glorious wings, and the French in the epithet flammant only repeat the same idea. The first impression produced by such a spectacle is not easily to be forgotten; the birds stood in ranks, not merely of thousands, but literally of hundreds of thousands, ranged in interminable array. As the sunlight played upon the dazzling white and glowing red, the effect was indescribable; at length, taking alarm at something, the whole body of them rose into the air, displaying their wings to still greater advantage, as they formed themselves into an immense wedge-shaped phalanx, and winged their way far up into the blue sky." When standing quietly upon the shore, the appearance of these birds very much resembles that of an army drawn up in order of battle; the Cingalese call them "English soldier birds," the South Americans simply "soldiers," and indeed not without cause, for, as Humboldt informs us, the inhabitants of Angostura, soon after the establishment of that colony, were one day thrown into a state of great alarm by the sudden appearance of what they took to be a numerous army, and it was only when the supposed enemy took flight to the shores of the Orinoco, that they discovered their mistake. A solitary Flamingo is very rarely seen, never perhaps before the commencement of the pairing season, and even then it must be some young bird that has strayed by accident from its fellows. Usually they keep together in flocks, and carefully avoid any locality where danger might be apprehended. Open waters are usually selected as their fishing-place, and should a boat approach they at once take flight whilst it is still far off, so that it is by no means easy to observe their proceedings, except with the aid of a telescope. In general they may be seen with their legs immersed in the water, or more rarely on the dry shore or on sand-banks with their necks curved in a very peculiar manner (see page 116) in front of the breast, the head being laid as it were upon the back, or buried beneath the shoulder-feathers of the wing; generally the whole weight of the body is supported by one leg, the other being held obliquely backwards or drawn up close to the body; in this strange position the Flamingo sleeps. The manner in which these birds obtain their food is equally remarkable. Like all other sieve-beaked birds, the materials upon which they subsist are procured by raking in the mud. The Flamingo when in search of food, wades into the water to a convenient depth, and then bends down its long neck until its head is upon the same level as its feet; it then plunges its beak, with the upper mandible downwards, into the mud. In this position the bird rakes about at the bottom of the water, moving backwards and forwards with short steps, and opening and shutting its bill whilst its tongue is busily at work. In this manner, by the delicate sense of touch resident in that member, the Flamingo examines the contents of its mouth, retaining what is useful as food, and straining out through the sieve-like apparatus the mud or non-nutritive materials with which it is accompanied. Meanwhile, by the movements of its webbed feet, it is continually stirring up the bottom, and thus putting in motion all the little aquatic animals of which it is in search. The gait of the Flamingo very much resembles that of the Long-legged Waders, but is not exactly similar, although the difference is not easily described. Its steps are longer, more regular, and more vacillating, as might be expected from the extraordinary length of its legs, but at the same time its movements are easy, and differ widely from the accounts given of them by some writers, who tell us that when walking it is compelled to help itself along by its beak. Its beak, however, is occasionally employed to assist it in its movements, as for example, when having bent its legs under its body it lies down upon the ground to rest, and is suddenly obliged to rise from this position, the bill is employed to assist in getting up, but this once accomplished it runs away with tolerable speed in the manner above described. When taking flight from the sea or lake in which it has been feeding, it not unfrequently goes to a considerable distance, half running and half flying over the surface of the water, much after the manner of a Duck or Water-hen. In deep