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Eighty-Seven Flamingoes Hatched in Hialeah Nest Represents Record Number of Young Ones Eyer Born There HIALEAH, Fla., June 1. — The biggest flock of flamingoes in captivity set a record today. Eighty-seven gawky chicks staggered among the cone-shaped nests on the infield island at Hialeah Park race track. Thats the largest number of baby flamingoes ever hatched there. The previous record was 72 in 1952. "And there are still 41 eggs remaining to be hatched," said Joe Morrow, superintendent of the grounds. Why so many young flamingoes this year? Morrows best guess is "the drouth." "No rain fell this year during the period of incubation,"" he said. "There was no chance for the egs to get wet and chilled when the parent birds changed places on the nests." He said the flock of nearly 800 flamingoes has been laying 120 to 130* eggs each year for some time, but never more than 60 or 70 of them hatched. He thinks the big crop of baby flamingoes may be due to other precautions, too. One is a policy of shooing off stray dogs thatr wander onto the track grounds. Another is getting rid of raccoons that used to raid the flamingo nets. "We used to string an electrified wire around the flamingo island to keep the raccoons out, but this winter we didnt even put it up." The first flamingo to be born in captivity at Hialeah Park was hatched in 1939 but lived" only two weeks, Morrow recalled. After installation of the electrified wire and other improvements, the captive flamingoes in 1942 began raising babies by the dozen. "Now weve got a housing problem — or, rather, a nesting problem," Morrow reported. "Theres only a certain amount of space on that island, and where there used to be three nests, there are now five."
