Note: Information is dated. Do not rely on it.

Flamingo. A genus of web-footed birds which may be regarded as in some respects intermediate between the storks and the ducks, their long legs and necks giving them a resemblance to the former, while their webbed feet connect them with the latter. There are eight species of true flamingoes. Their food appears to be mollusca, spawn, grass, water plants, insects, etc., which they fish up by means of their long neck. They breed in companies in mud flats or inundated marshes, raising the mud into a small hillock, which is concave at the top so as to form a nest. In this hollow the female lays her eggs, and hatches them by sitting on them with her legs doubled up beside her. The eggs are two in number. The young do not fly until they have nearly attained their full growth, though they can run very swiftly and swim with case almost immediately after their exclusion from the shell. The common American species is of a deep red color, with black quills. It is peculiar to tropical America, migrating in summer to the southern and rarely to the middle states.

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