The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-04-07


recog ntze what she was looking into.
He stayed all day and day after day.
He SAW tho hirds mend their nests.
,avaged, BY me storm. reaching their
bills down from ihe top of me structuIe
FOR a bill fuH % mud, lhen plasteiing
it neatly on with bills and feet. He
measured the nests. eight inches high.
with a depression of one inch AT the
top. in which lay d single Egg.
He disproNed many hoary fal!acies.
Since Sir Henry Blake IA some M
complete Investigations in 1887 il had
been believed that the father tia,ninso
loo beside his spouse while she Mas
sitting upon the egg. Mr.. Chapman
proved him 10 be- an ever more gentle
manly and domestic consort. He takes
his turn with the mother in incubating
the eggs.
h birds work in two shifts. chang
ing at morning and evening, when long
rose colored linee come nyinE in from
every point OF the compass. and others,
made up OF birds relieved, fly away
in their turn TO the feeding grounds.
AS Peter said:
II do tink. an. when lady mlsnaingo
leave nes'. gentleman Allymingo take
huh place. sab"
All day an astonishing upros, fills
Flamingo City. An elevated train could
pass in close proximity without being
heard.
But at noon silence reigns. The hour
for siesta has come. Each bird dis
poses her long neck in a graceful coil.
tucks her head under The feathers on
her back n sleeps. But at q single
honk OF alarm up rise thousands OF
snakN, rosy necks. like d mass of glow
ing, writing serpents.
In order that they should eve
know that amy II WAS in the blind,
Mrs. CHAPMAN came TO the city at "a
certain hour every afternoon. and dur
ing the absence of the birds Mr.. Chap
man retired. while the fianlingo never
seemed to know that two went walk
ing away where one had come. During
their absence he would walk through
the city counting the little birds.
These. when only a day old, would
hop out of the nest and scuttle off,
showing the i~nordinate shyness OF the
bird; TO: ordinary woodland birds do
not know the sensation of fear until
some time after birth. Upon the re-
turn of the parents Zach little bird
would run home. Most of them rec
ognized the sound Of the their parents
voice; blu, II now and then Il little
chap lost his way and tried TO climb
into the wrong nest, Il sharp peck on
the nape of his neck sent him on to his
own door. How did each mother know
how to pick out her OWL little White.
baby?
The little chicks look exactly like
BARNARD chicks. covered with Il VEL
lowish down, excepting that they have
abnormally long legs and bills. Half
grown they are extraordinarily ugly.
their bodies covered with dull gray
feathers. perched at the top. apparently,
IF Il ridiculous pair OF suits.
All this time the explorers were
Sleeping on pnuematic mattresses, with
the water gurgling at the bedside.
They calculated that the mattress
would float if the waters rose in the
night; but they worried more over the
fate OF their Photographic slides than
OF themselves. SO Mr.. Chapman sad
lN tore himself away before F}amingo
city ~disbande for the year.
Each pair of flamingoes rear a single
chicken. So they probably hardly old
their own. And as fresh meat is rare
in those parts and the little hamingoes
Very sweet and tender, the negro ma
tiNes o Them very much. The fla
mingo race is doomed. despite its des-
perate hiding.
When ii is gone this unique museum
group. with its mounted birds on the
sandy beach melting almost illdistin-
g~uishably into The painted background.
VIII remain 10 tell the tale. Mann pc
sons who pause before the group find
that they never knew what color fla
mingoes we're. They are Il pure salmon
pink. the exact color of the d.ni2ens
of the columbia river. hut deepening
In the soft rich plumage of the neck
and breast into an exquisite Neivety
effect.