Abstract
A RECENT issue of British Birds (41, No. 12 ; December 1948) contains a selection of a remarkable series of photographs of flamingos (Phænicopterus ruber), take by G. K. Yeates, W. E. Higham, T. W. B. Jeans and H. A. Patrick in the Camargue (Rhone delta) in May 1948. Until recently it has been doubtful whether the Camargue could be regarded as a breeding-place of flamingos ; but in June 1948 a large breeding-colony in a remote locality was 'discovered' by Yeates, Higham and Patrick. The locality appears to be the one in which flamingos most frequently breed, or attempt to breed, in the Camargue. When the photographs were taken, a large number of birds, estimated at approximately three thousand pairs, were breeding. In remarkable contrast to their sensitivity in the earlier stages of breeding, when they desert with great readiness, the birds are surprisingly approachable when the young are hatched. The nests are formed of mud scraped up by the birds to form a mound. They are usually made in shallow water and are raised until they are a few inches above water-level, although frequently the water afterwards drops, leaving them high and dry.
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The Flamingo. Nature 163, 758 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/163758d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/163758d0
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