376 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. xu.

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(375) STUDIES OF SOME SPECIES RARELY PHOTOGRAPHED. XVI. THE FLAMINGO. Photographed by W. E. HIGHAM, T. W. B, JEANS, H. A. PATRICK AND G. K. YEATES. (Plates 61-69.

1 (375) STUDIES OF SOME SPECIES RARELY PHOTOGRAPHED. XVI. THE FLAMINGO. Photographed by W. E. HIGHAM, T. W. B, JEANS, H. A. PATRICK AND G. K. YEATES. (Plates ) WE particularly welcome the opportunity of publishing a selection of the remarkable series of photographs of Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) taken by Mr. Yeates and his fellow photographers in the Camargue (Rhone delta) in May, The Flamingos in the Camargue frequent the vast shallow saline lagoons or etangs near the coast. They constitute one of the chief avian features of the delta and have been observed by practically every ornithologist visiting the district for many years past. Until quite recently, however, evidence of their breeding has been extraordinarily fragmentary and unsatisfactory. In Brit. Birds, Vol. xviii, pp , Mr. W. E. Glegg described the finding in May, 1924, of over 300 eggs, which were scattered over the mud of two islands without any attempt at nest building, except in a single case, and were all subsequently abandoned. In the Ibis, 1931, pp , the same author summarized the evidence then available concerning the finding of eggs or nests, practically all of them relating to similarly abortive and half-hearted attempts at breeding, which failed owing to human disturbance, changes of water-level or other causes unknown. These facts naturally raised the question whether the Camargue could be regarded in any real sense as a breeding-place of Flamingos at all or whether the population was maintained by breeding elsewhere. From the date mentioned until 1947 the situation as regards information generally available to ornithologists had not materially altered. In June of that year, as recorded in the Ibis, 1948, pp , Messrs. Yeates, Higham and Patrick "discovered" a large breeding-colony in a remote locality, although it subsequently transpired, that it had been known for some time to more than one local ornithologist, who had refrained from disclosing the facts in the interest of the birds, which are highly susceptible to disturbance. The locality is evidently the one in which Flamingos most frequently breed, or attempt to breed, in the Camargue, and they are stated by the landowner's keeper to have done so from 1922 to 1924, and in 1936, 1939 and 1942, as well as in In a number of other years nesting had been attempted but not carried through successfully. In early June, 1947, when the colony was visited by Mr. Yeates and his companions, practically all the young had hatqhed and left the nests, and about 2,000 are estimated to have been fledged a very successful season. In May, 1948, when the photographs were taken, a very large number of birds, estimated at approximately 3,000 pairs, was breeding. The lower

2 376 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. xu. figure in plate 61 illustrates the surprising approachability of the birds when the young are hatched, in remarkable contrast to their sensitivity in the early stages of breeding when, as already noted, they desert with great readiness. The nests are formed of mud scraped up by the birds to form a mound with a slight depression on the top. According to most accounts they are usually made in shallow water and are raised sometimes as much as 15 inches or more until they are a few inches above water-level, although it frequently happens that the water subsequently drops, leaving them high and dry. The considerably elevated type of nest, as frequently described and figured, does not, however, appear to have been observed in Europe. Abel Chapman, whose observations in Spain provided the first accurate account of the breeding of Flamingos (Ibis, 1884, pp ), describes the nests which he examined in the Marismas of the Guadalquivir as having "little or no height above the flat surface of the mud some were raised an inch or two, a few might be five or six inches in height; but the majority were merely circular bulwarks of mud barely raised above the general level.... The general aspect of the plateau was not unlike a large table covered with plates." This account would evidently apply fairly well to conditions in the Camargue. Mr. Yeates (loc. cit.) has stated, with reference to 1947, that few of the nests were as much as a foot high and has expressed the opinion that although the water level had undoubtedly dropped since they were constructed many of them must have been on dry ground when built. Nests can be well seen in several of the plates, and plate 69 shows two birds sitting, with the long legs doubled under them and the tarsal joints projecting beyond the tail, as first described from personal observation by Abel Chapman, who thus finally disposed of the legend originally promulgated by William Dampier (New Voyage round the World, 1697) that the incubating bird stands against the nest with the hind part of the body covering the eggs. Though the usual clutch is commonly stated to be two eggs the majority of nests in this colony contained one egg only (cf. especially plate 61). The season of 1948 was a highly successful one; it is estimated that about 3,000 pairs bred, and after these had hatched their young and gone, about 300 more pairs settled down and nested on the same site. In late May, 1948, when the photographs were taken, most of the eggs had hatched or were about to hatch, and in 1947 the main laying dates are stated to have been May 5th and 6th. It may be noted that the nesting season in both years was thus decidedly earlier than given by Chapman for Spain (late May and early June) and, as Yeates (loc. cit.) has observed, most of the records quoted by Glegg also "indicate late May or June, although he quotes large young as early as May 20th (1910) and eggs on May 14th (1912)," It is, however, well established that the Flamingo "is capable of considerable alteration of breeding-season to suit the water conditions"

after disturbance by the photographer. (Photographed by W. E. Higham).

3 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 61. UPPER. FLAMINGOS IN THE CAMARGUE. The birds have come out of the water in order to return to the nests after disturbance by the photographer. (Photographed by W. E. Higham). LOWER. G. K. YEATES PHOTOGRAPHING FLAMINGOS, (Photographed by T. B. W. Jeans).

4 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 62. FLAMINGOS IN NESTING COLONY, CAMARGUE, MAY, [Photographed by H. A. Patrick).

5 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 63. FLAMINGOS TENDING YOUNG, CAMARGUE, MAY, (Photographed by G. K. Yeates).

6 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 64. FLAMINGOS WITH NESTS AND YOUNG, CAMARGUE, MAY, (Photographed by G. K. Yeates).

7 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 65. FLAMINGOS WITH NESTS AND YOUNG, CAMARGUE, MAY, (Photographed by G. K. Yeates).

8 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 66. FLAMINGOS IN NESTING COLONY, CAMARGUE, MAY, Many of the birds are incubating. {Photographed by G. K. Yeates).

British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 67. FLAMINGOS IN THE CAMARGUE, MAY, 1948.

9 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 67. FLAMINGOS IN THE CAMARGUE, MAY, A group of non-incubating birds in the water on the outskirts of the colony, {Photographed by W. E. Higham).

FLAMINGOS AT NESTS, CAMARGUE, MAY, 1948.

10 FLAMINGOS AT NESTS, CAMARGUE, MAY, (Photographed by T. B. W. Jeans). British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 68.

British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 69. FLAMINGOS AT NESTS, CAMARGUE, MAY, 1948.

11 British Birds, Vol. xli, PI. 69. FLAMINGOS AT NESTS, CAMARGUE, MAY, Note the tarsal joints of the legs projecting beyond the tail in the sitting birds. {Photographed by H. A. Patrick).

(261) THE INCUBATION PERIOD OF THE OYSTER-CATCHER

(261) THE INCUBATION PERIOD OF THE OYSTER-CATCHER BY J. KEIGHLEY AND E. J. M. BUXTON. IN 1939 one of us studied a number of pairs of Oyster-catchers (Hmmatopus ostralegus occidentalis) breeding on Skokholm,