Nancy Reinhart, age 12, of Seattle, Wash., For her question;

What is the original country of the flamingo?

Not so long ago, there were flocks of wild flamingos along the swampy shores of Florida. But the handsome birds were plundered for their feathers, and our wild flamingos disappeared. Later, foreign flamingos were imported and left to live in a semi wild state. These flocks along our far southern shores thrived and multiplied.

The gaudy flamingo is a water bird of the tropics. There axe six species varying in color from pale petal pink to rich rosy red. The big beauties live in the wild state in Asia and Africa, in Central and South America, in the west Indies and one species lives high in the Andes.