Flamingos are often kept in captivity, and their manners and habits, so far as they could be observed in a zoological garden, are well known. In the wild state, however, they are extremely shy birds, and of their breeding history nearly nothing was known, the old fable of their riding astride on top of high pyramids being copied from age to age in words and pictures, notwithstanding that Naumann, as early as 1838, demonstrated the anatomical and physiological impossibility of the alleged position of the breeding bird, and in spite of Dr. Cresson's assertions to the contrary. The story originated with the famous traveler Dampier, but from his narrative it is clear that he was only speaking upon hearsay evidence; for when, in 1683, he visited the Cape Verde Islands, he found only nests and young ones, but no eggs; and the account of the breeding is therefore evidently based upon the tales of the natives. It runs as follows:-
When incubating they stand with their legs in the water, resting themselves against the Hillock, and covering the hollow Nest upon it with their Rumps; for their Legs are very long; and building thus as they do upon the Ground they could neither draw their Legs conveniently into their Nests, nor sit down upon them otherwise than by resting their whole Bodies there, to the Prejudice of their Eggs or their Young,
were it not for this admirable Contrivance by which they have by natural Instinct."
His statement has, however, been generally, if not universally, accepted, for want of a better, inasmuch as no competent observer had succeeded until 1881 in watching the manner in which the flamingo performed the task of incubation. Eggs have, indeed, been obtained by the bushel, but the wariness of the birds precluded any trustworthy account until the visit of H.H. Jonston, in 1881, to a small colony in the Lake of Tunis, and of Mr. Abel Chapman, in 1883, to a large one near the mouth of the river Guadalquivir in Spain. The former says: "I took up my opera-glass and saw on two mounds, some foot and a half high, two flamingos sitting with their legs under them. Of this I am certain: I could see the tarsi protruding beyond the loose plumes of the wings." The latter gentleman's account is fuller, so we give the following extract from his narrative:-
" The islands were about six miles distant from the low shores of the ' marisma,' and at that distance no land whatever was in sight. The only relief from the monotony of endless wastes of water were the birds; a shrieking, clamoring crowd hung overhead, while only a few yards off the surface was dotted with troops of stilts, sedately stalking about, knee-deep. Beyond these the strange forms of hundreds of flamingos met one's eye in every direction, --some in groups or in dense masses; others, with rigidly outstretched neck and legs, flying in short strings or larger flights,' glinting ' in the sunlight like a pink cloud. Many pairs of old red birds were observed to be accompanied by a single white (immature) one. On examining narrowly the different herds, there was an obvious dissimilarity in the appearance of certain groups: one or two in particular seemed so much denser than the others; the narrow white line appeared at least three times as thick, and in the centre it looked as if the birds were literally piled upon each other. Felipe suggested that these birds must be at their ' pajarera' or breeding-place; and after a long ride through rather deep water we found that this was so. On our approach, the cause of the peculiar appearance of the herd from a distance became clearly discernible. Many of the birds were sitting down on a low mud island; some were standing on it, and others, again, were in the water. Thus the different elevations of their bodies formed what had appeared a triple or quadruple link. On reaching the spot we found a perfect mass of nests; the low mud plateau was crowded with them as thickly as the space permitted. These nests had little or no height: some were raised two or three inches, a few might be five or six inches; but the majority were merely circular bulwarks of mud, with the impression of the birds' legs distinctly marked on it.
