Naturalists have encountered great difficulty in their attempts to study the habits of the flamingo in its native haunts, for it is a very shy and cautious bird, and no flock is ever found without a sentinel posted to give notice of the approach of danger. This is usually the largest, and probably the oldest and wisest, bird of the flock. At the least sound it lifts its large head as high in the air as the long neck will allow, and looks about on every side. If any boat or hunter is seen, the whole flock, with loud screechings, instantly vanishes among the tall water-grasses.
When the flamingo sleeps it draws one leg up among its breast feathers, and bending its neck backward, rests its head on the middle of its back, with the beak erect in the air or buried in its wing. It is a graceful, rapid swimmer, and flies easily, stretching its long neck before and its legs behind, like the crane and stork. Its nest is described by those naturalists who have been fortunate enough to see it as an immense heap of mud and water-grasses in the depths of some solitary swamp, where the mother bird broods patiently for thirty days on her two glistening white eggs. When the little ones are hatched they take to the water immediately, and swim about as lively as young ducks; but they are not strong enough to fly for some months, and not until they are three years old do they attain the full magnificence of their scarlet plumage.
A FLAMINGO AND HIS ENEMY THE OCELOT.
The harmless and peaceful flamingo has many enemies besides man. Beasts of prey are prowling abroad at night, and pounce upon these birds while they are sleeping in their marshy homes. In the great South American swamps the ocelot is one of its most formidable foes. The ocelot is a very small member of the panther family, and is found in Mexico and all through the American tropics. It is a tawny-colored creature, covered with glistening black markings. It has the same habits as other members of its family, spending the day asleep in some secluded thicket, and roaming the forests at night and early dawn in search of birds and small animals.
BIG BOY AND LITTLE MAMMA.
Mamma, my dear, if a robber should come,
A terrible robber, one might, you see,
I'd frighten him off with my sword and drum,
And you would be perfectly safe with me.
And if you and I in a gloomy wood
Should meet a bear as we walked some day,
With my bow and arrows, like Robin Hood,
I would drive the fierce old bear away.
But now I am tired, and sleepy too,
And I wish my mamma would lift me down.
There's a laughing look in her eyes of blue,
As they answer her boy's so big and brown.
She feels on her lips his coaxing touch,
She clasps him fast in her loving hold,
And she murmurs, I'll never fear robber much,
Unless he should steal this heart of gold.