GRALLATORl^. 401 



Our last genus will be that of 



Ph(enicopterus, Lin. 



Or the Flamingos, one of the most extraordinary and insulated of 

 all birds. The legs are excessively long; the three anterior toes are 

 palmated to their ends, and that of the hind one is extremely short; 

 the neck, quite as long and slender as the legs, and their small head 

 furnished with a beak whose lower mandible is an oval longitudinally 

 bent into a semi-cylindrical canal, while the upper one, oblong 

 and flat, is bent crosswise in its middle, so as to join the other 

 exactly. The membranous fossse of the nostrils occupy nearly all 

 the side of the part which is behind the transverse fold, and the 

 nostrils themselves are longitudinal slits in the base of the fossse. 

 The edges of the two mandibles are furnished with small, and very 

 delicate transverse laminae, which, with the fleshy thickness of the 

 tongue, creates some affinity between them and the Ducks. Were 

 it not for the length of their tarsi, and the nudity of their legs, we 

 might even place them among the Palmipedes. They feed on shell 

 fish, insects, and the spawn of fishes, which they capture by means of 

 their long neck, turning the head on one side to give more effect to 

 the hook of the upper mandible. They construct their nest of earth 

 in marshes, placing themselves astride of it to hatch their eggs, a 

 position to which they are forced to resort, by the length of their 

 legs. The species known. 



Ph. ruber, Enl. 68 (The Red Flamingo), is from three to four 

 feet in height; ash coloured, with brown streaks, during the 

 first year; in the second there is a rosy hue on the wings, and 

 in the third it acquires a permanent purple-red on the back, and 

 rose-coloured wings. The quills of the Aving are black; the 

 beak yellow, with a black tip, and the feet brown. 



This species is found in all parts of the eastern continent be- 

 low 40. Numerous flocks are seen on the southern coast of 

 France, and they sometimes ascend as far as the Rhine. 

 M. Temminck thinks that the American Flamingo, which is alto- 

 gether of a bright red, Wils. VIII, 66, and Catesb. 73, is a different 

 species from that of Europe.(l) 



Trans. XIII, pi. xii, f. 2. Add Glar. australis. Leach, loc. cit. pi- xiv, or Glar. 

 Isabella, Vieill. Gal. 263; Glar. orientalis, Leach, XIII; Glar. ladea, Tem. 

 Col. 399. 



(1) M. Temminck has positively ascertained that the Flamingo of America is 

 different from that of Europe. The latter he calls Phasn. antiquorum, but the 

 American species Ph. ruber. Am. Ed. 

 Vol. I. 3 A 



