soon as this trusty sentinel perceives the remotest appearance of danger, he gives a loud scream, with a voice as shrill as a trumpet, and instantly the whole cohort are upon the wing. They feed in silence, but upon this occasion all the flock are in one chorus, and fill the air with intolerable screamings.

From this it appears that the flamingos are very difficult to be approached at present, and that they avoid mankind with the most cautious timidity; however, it is not from any antipathy to man that they shun his society, for in some villages, as we are assured by Labat, along the coast of Africa, the flamingos come in great numbers to make their residence among the natives. There they assemble by thousands, perched on the trees within and about the village; and are so very clamorous, that the sound is heard at near a mile's distance. The Negroes are fond of their company, and consider their society as a gift of Heaven, as a protection from accidental evils. The French, who are admitted to this part of the coast, cannot, without some degree of discontent, see such a quantity of game untouched, and rendered useless by the superstition of the natives; they now and then privately shoot some of them, when at a convenient distance from the village, and hide them in the long grass if they perceive any of the Negroes approaching; for they would probably stand a chance of being ill treated, if the blacks discovered their sacred birds thus unmercifully destroyed.

Sometimes, in their wild state, they are shot by mariners; and their young, which run excessively fast, are often taken. Labat has frequently taken them with nets properly extended round the places they breed in. When their long legs are entangled in the meshes, they are then unqualified to make their escape; but they still continue to combat with

their destroyer, and the old ones, though seized by the head, will scratch with their claws; and these, though seemingly inoffensive, very often do mischief. When they are fairly disengaged from the net, they nevertheless preserve their natural ferocity; they refuse all nourishment; they peck and combat with their claws at every opportunity. The fowler is therefore under the necessity of destroying them when taken, as they would only pine and die, if left to themselves in captivity. The flesh of the old ones is black and hard, though Dampier says, well tasted; that of the young ones is still better. But, of all other delicacies, the flamingo's tongue is the most celebrated. A dish of flamingos' tongues, says our author, is a feast for an emperor. In fact, the Roman emperors considered them as the highest luxury; and we have an account of one of them, who procured fifteen hundred flamingos' tongues to be served up in a single dish. The tongue of this bird, which is so much sought after, is a good deal larger than that of any other bird whatever. The bill of the flamingo is like a large black box, of an irregular figure, and filled with a tongue which is black and gristly; but what peculiar flavour it may possess, I leave to be determined by such as understand good eating better than I do. It is probable, that the beauty and scarcity of the bird might be the first inducements to studious gluttony to fix upon its tongue as meat for the table. What Dampier says of the goodness of its flesh cannot be so well relied on, for Dampier was often hungry, and thought any thing good that could be eaten: he avers, indeed, with Labat, that the flesh is black, tough, and fishy; so that we can hardly give him credit when he asserts, that its flesh can be formed into a luxurious entertainment.

These birds, as was said, always go in flocks together, and they move in ranks in the manner of

cranes. They are sometimes seen, at the break of day, flying down in great numbers from the mountain and conducting each other with a trumpet cry, that sounds like the word tococo, from whence the savages of Canada have given them the name. In their flight they appear to great advantage; for they then seem of as bright a red as a burning coal. When they dispose themselves to feed, their cry ceases, and then they disperse over a whole marsh in silence and assiduity. Their manner of feeding is very singular; the bird thrusts down its head, so that the upper convex side of the bill shall only touch the ground; and in this position the animal appears, as it were, standing upon its head. In this manner it paddles and moves the bill about, and seizes whatever fish or insect happens to offer. For this purpose the upper chap is notched at the edges, so as to hold its prey with the greater security. Catesby, however, gives a different account of their feeding. According to him, they thus place the upper chap undermost, and so work about, in order to pick up a seed from the bottom of the water, that resembles millet; but as in picking up this they necessarily also suck in a large quantity of mud, their bill is toothed at the edges, in such a manner as to let out the mud, while they swallow the grain.

Their time of breeding is according to the climate in which they reside: in North America they breed in our summer; on the other side the Line they take the most favourable season of the year. They build their nests in extensive marshes, and where they are in no danger of a surprise. The nest is not less curious than the animal that builds it: it is raised from the surface of the pool about a foot and a half, formed of mud scraped up together, and hardened by the sun, or the heat of the bird's body: it resembles a truncated cone, or one of the pots which we see pla

ced on chimnies: on the top it is hollowed out to the shape of the bird, and in that cavity the female lays her eggs, without any lining but the well cemented mud that forms the sides of the building. She always lays two eggs, and no more; and, as her legs are immoderately long, she straddles on the nest, while her legs hang down, one on each side, into the water.

The young ones are a long while before they are able to fly; but they run with amazing swiftness. They are sometimes caught; and, very different from the old ones, suffer themselves to be carried home, and are tamed very easily. In five or six days they become familiar, eat out of the hand, and drink a surprising quantity of sea water. But though they are easily rendered domestic, they are not reared without the greatest difficulty; for they generally pine away for want of their natural supplies, and die in a short time. While they are yet young, their colours are very different from those lively tints they acquire with age. In their first year they are covered with plumage of a white colour, mixed with gray; in the second year the whole body is white, with here and there a slight tint of scarlet, and the great covert feathers of the wings are black; the third year the bird acquires all its beauty, the plumage of the whole body is scarlet, except some of the feathers in the wings, that still retain their sable hue. Of these beautiful plumes the savages make various ornaments; and the bird is sometimes skinned by the Europeans to make muffs. But these have diminished in their price, since we have obtained the art of dying. feathers of the brightest scarlet.

CHAPTER IX.

OF THE AVOsetta or scOOPER, AND THE CORRIRA OR RUNNER.

THE extraordinary shape of the Avosetta's bill might incline us to wish for its history; and yet in that we are not able to indulge the reader. Natural historians have hitherto, like ambitious monarchs, shown a greater fondness for extending their dominious than cultivating what they possess. While they have been labouring to add new varieties to their catalogues, they have neglected to study the history of animals already known.

The avosetta is chiefly found in Italy, and now and then comes over into England.* It is about the size of a pigeon, is a pretty upright bird, and has extremely long legs for its size. But the most extraordinary part of its figure, and that by which it may be distinguished from all others of the feathered tribe, is the bill, which turns up like a hook, in an opposite direction to that of the hawk or the parrot. This extraordinary bill is black, flat, sharp, and flexible at the end, and about three inches and a half long. From its being bare a long way above the knee, it appears that it lives and wades in the waters. It has a chirping, pert note, as we are told; but with its other habits we are entirely unacquainted. I have

[* This bird is variegated with black and white. It is frequently seen, during the winter, on the eastern shores of Great Britain, and it also frequents the Severn, and the pools of Shropshire. It occasionally visits the coast of Picardy in France, but does not appear to wander farther south in Europe than Italy. These birds feed on worms and insects, which they scoop out of the sand with their bills: but although their feet are webbed, they have never been observed to take the water. They lay two eggs, white, with a greenish hue, about the size of those of the pigeon. Whether from timidity or address, the avoset shuns snares, and is not easily taken.]