The birds of the Bahama Islands - containing many birds new to the Islands, and a number of undescribed winter plumages of North American birds (1890) (14568833487)

Phoenicopterus ruber
Identifier: birdsofbahamaisl01cory (find matches)
Title: The birds of the Bahama Islands : containing many birds new to the Islands, and a number of undescribed winter plumages of North American birds
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Cory, Charles B. (Charles Barney), 1857-1921
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Boston, U.S.A. : Estes & Lauriat
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries



Text Appearing Before Image:
F THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. FAM. PHCENICOPTERID.^. FLAMINGOES. PHCENICOPTERUS RUBER. (Linn.)Flamingo. Local Name. — Felimingo. Adult Male.— Entire plumage, scarlet; most of primaries,black; legs, lake-red; terminal half of bill, black ; basal half oflower mandible, orange; young males and females are paler. Length 52, wing 17, tail 6.50, tarsus 12.50, bill 5.25. This beautiful species was at one time very abundant through-out the Bahama Islands; but of late years they have been sopersecuted by the inhabitants that at the present time they are to befound in any numbers only upon the inland ponds and marshes ofInagua and Abaco. They are gradually dying off, or seeking somemore inaccessible locality as yet undisturbed by the presence ofmankind, and in all probability with the next century the Flamingowill be unknown in the Bahamas. The inhabitants find their breed-ing-places and gather hundreds of their eggs. They kill greatnunibers of the young birds before they are able to fly, and carry
Text Appearing After Image:
^^X, i/ PHOENICOPTERUS RUBEB FlOTTllRaO. BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. l8l away nearly as many alive to sell to passing vessels, most of whichdie from want of care. They are killed by hundreds for theirfeathers, and thus gradually their ranks are being thinned, until atlast the Flamingo, like the Dodo and the Solitaire, will be a thing ofthe past. The nest is a curious structure, composed of clay andmud, and formed somewhat in the shape of a sugar-loaf, with aslight depression on the top, in which they deposit their eggs. Atthe salt ponds of Inagua and Abaco they still breed in largenumbers, but the negroes say that they are becoming fewer andfewer every year. The eggs are white, the shell being covered bya chalky substance. While on the nest, this bird sits with its legshanging down on either side, and it presents a most ludicrousappearance. I was told by the negroes that Flamingoes are stillfound on Andros Island. Fig. Aud. Bds. N. A., Vol. VI. pi. 375. lS2 BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLAND