Before passing on to the sixth family of Wading or Long-legged Birds, we must notice two curious types that seem to form distinct classes. The Flamingoes, which are certainly Waders and yet with webbed feet like the Swimmers, and the curious Frigate Bird about which so many strange tales are told of its wonderful power of flight. The Flamingo is one of the most curious of the tribe of Waders. The most fanciful imagination would fail to picture to itself anything more odd than the conformation of this Bird. It has extremely long legs, supporting quite a small body; a neck corresponding in length with the leg, a rather long bill, sharply curved and apparently broken in the middle. Add to this a plumage of rose-color, warming into a bright red on the back and wings, and we have an object of both wonder and admiration. Ancient writers, struck by the vivid coloring of its wings, called this the Fiery-winged Bird; this term was designated in France by the word flambert, or flamant; from which came the name Flamingo, by which the Bird is popularly known. Flamingoes inhabit the margins of lakes and ponds, more rarely the seashore. They feed on Worms, Molluscs, and the Spawn of Fishes, which they capture by the following stratagem: Placing their long neck and head in such a position that the upper mandible of their bill is the lowest, they stir the mud about in every direction, thus easily succeed in disturbing the small Fish which have settled in it, and capturing them while blended with the thick sediment. They also use their feet for working the ooze and detaching the fry and spawn, to which they are partial. They love company, and live in flocks, which are subject to strict discipline. When they are fishing they draw themselves up into long, straight and regular files, protected by sentinels whose office it is to give a signal of alarm on the approach of danger. If any cause for uneasiness should arise, the scout-birds give a piercing cry, not unlike the note of a trumpet, and the whole flock immediately wing their way to a place of safety. Flamingoes are very shy and timid, and shun all attempts of Man to approach them; the vicinity of animals, however, they disregard. Any one who is acquainted with this fact can take advantage of it, for, by dressing himself up in the skin of a Horse or an Ox, he can effect immense slaughter among these beautiful creatures. Thus disguised, the sportsman may shoot them down at his ease, so long as their enemy is unrecognized; the noise of the gun only stupefies them, so that they refuse to leave, although their companions are dropping down dead around them.