The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1921-02-18
us F1arrlingo


xtincticn is contained in letter re-
eived by John Oliver LaGorce, vice
irector Of the National Geographic
Society, from H. e. w. Grant, colonial
,overnor of the Bahamas, which says:
you will be glad to hear that an
rider in council has been passed CIV
ag complete protection to the fla
lingo. This glory of our marshes
wes your expedition a debt of graft
hde"
The action of the Bahamas Council
Vas taken following an expedition,
Which trailed the aamingo, the most
beautiful of the worlds larger birds,
rs last stand, took motion pictures
Of the timorous birds, brought about
a realization of how near they were
to becoming extinct in the new world
through humiliation by native sponge
fishermen, who hunted them down for
food purposEs at the nesting and mott
ling season.
The FIRST American naturalist to To-
cate and study the gorgeous famingo
was DR.. Frank M. Chapman of 1901,
i when he estimated that some 10000
y fiamingoes were to be found on one OF
lthe little known islands of the Bahams
Since then it is believed that
ktwo-thirds of the colonies have
ed.
expedition that spent ten days
abysnnal salt swamps Of Andres
filming and studying his hapl-
or scientific purposes, was sent
bv the Miami Aquarium Associa-
and the personnel of the party
sded James A. Allison, president
he association; Carl G.. Fisher, its
gident; Louis A. Fuertes, nature
st and bird life expert; Norman
.Clintock, naturalist and bird photo
grapher; Louis L. Mowbray, technical
director of the Miami Aquarium;
Charles Harrison Thompson. Florida
4.hunter and fish expert; John H. Lew
and John Oliver LaGorce, secretary
treasurer of the Aquarium Association
and vice director of the National Geo.
graphic Society.
L'Apache, Mr.. Allison's yacht was
the mother ship of the expedition, and
the express cruiser, Shadow V, was
|Rused as a scout boat. Canvas canoes
we've taken along to get into the shall
low salt creeks and nose into the Ia
goons for deep entrances to the murky
swamps where the flamingo hides.
Bahama guide, Peter Bannister, who
had aided DIR. Chapman's party nine
years ago, also went with the party.
After penetrating to the utmost
.snavigble points with the canoes, it
was necessary to traverse miles OF the
"swash' or tidal mari marshes, car
rying the heavy cameras and motion
picture machines, in search for the
birds. Wading in water up to the
waist, knee deep in the mari mud, was
the daily program.
But the hardships found worthy
reward when the party come upon
colonies of several hundred birds, de-
scribed by Mr. LaGorce as "a flaming
mass Of brillian scarlet bodies, jet
\ black beneath the huge wings, with
ktheir long slender necks gracefully
lowering and raising their Roman
nosed heads as though they sought be-
meath the water the tiny spiral she'll
known to scientists as Cerithium,
upon which the famingo lives ex-
clusively in its native habitat"
The expedition gathered much valu-
able scientific material, not only con-
cerning the life habits of the flamingo,
but of other rare birds and fish of the
Bahamas. The isolation of the fla
mingo may be sensed from the fact
that the members of the party were
the first white men to land at Man.
grove Key in seven years. Mangrove
~ is a small hamlet presided over
crown commissioner, who is the
visible sign of British authority
Sc found on an island ninety miles
long and forty wide. Because of this
isolation many of the little known "out
island" OF the Bahamas, only now and
then visited by the sponge fishers,
have preserved primitive conditions
that hold secrets of high value to the
turalist
Both Colonial Governor Grant and F.
Wells-Durant, colonial secretary of
he Bahamas, extended every courtesy
Ind assistance and were deeply inter-
Asted in the results of the expedition,
snacially of the discovery which