f
boiled pumpkin,--for the pumpkins soon began to come into bearing,--and
the ducklings and cygnets, which last were at present but little larger
than the others, would swim rapidly towards them when they saw them, and
would feed greedily out of their hands.

It was not for some weeks later that the desire for young flamingoes was
gratified. The boys had been out for a ride, and coming upon the river
where it was wide, with flat sandy banks, round which the timber grew,
they determined to tie up their horses and enter the stream, to see if
they could get some more eggs. With some difficulty they made their way
through the bushes, and, getting into the water, waded along until a
turn in the river brought them in sight of the flat bank. There were
some twenty or thirty flamingoes upon it, for these birds are very
gregarious. Some were standing in the water as usual, but the boys could
not make out what some of the others were doing. On the flat shore were
several heaps of earth, and across them some of the birds were
apparently sitting with one leg straddling out each side. So comical was
their aspect, that the boys burst into a laugh, which so scared the
flamingoes that they all took flight instantly. The boys now waded up to
the spot, and then got ashore to see what these strange heaps were for.
To their great delight they found that they were nests, and upon the top
of several of them were eight or nine eggs carefully arranged. The legs
of the flamingo are so long, that the bird is unable to double them up
and sit upon his nest in the usual fashion. The hen bird therefore
scrapes together a pile of earth, on the top of which she lays her eggs,
and then places herself astride to keep them warm. The boys had an
argument whether they should take away two nests entire, or whether they
should take a few eggs from each nest; but they decided upon the former
plan, in order that each of the young broods might be hatched
simultaneously. Upon the boys reaching home with their treasure, their
sisters' delight was unbounded, and the hens were soon placed upon their
new charges, and, both being good sitters, took to them without much
difficulty.

When the young broods were hatched, the girls were greatly disappointed
at the appearance of little greyish, fluffy balls, instead of the lovely
red things they had expected, and were by no means consoled when their
father told them that it would be three or four years before they gained