NON^INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 191 



breadth. Whether the female alone performs the duty 

 of incubation is undetermined, but seems probable. 

 Incubation is said by Brehm to last from 30 to 32 days. 

 Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Flamingo 

 cannot readily be confused with those of any other 

 Pal^earctic species, their size and shape, combined with 

 their chalky appearance and green under surface, render- 

 ing confusion almost impossible. 



Family IBIDID.^. Genus Plegadis. 



GLOSSY IBIS. 



Plegadis falcinellus {Liiinceus). 



(British : Rare abnormal spring and autumn migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, May and June. 



Breeding area : South-western Palsearctic region, 

 and Oriental region. The Glossy Ibis breeds in Spain 

 and in the delta of the Rhone. Eastwards it breeds in 

 the valleys of the Danube — especially the Obedska bar a 

 — and the Volga as far north as lat. 48°, in the plains of 

 the Caucasus, and throughout Turkestan and south-west 

 Siberia, in suitable localities as far north as lat. 48°. It 

 also breeds in the valley of the Indus and in Ceylon. 

 South of the Mediterranean it is only known to breed 

 with certainty in North-west Africa, and even there its 

 distribution appears to be poorly defined. 



Breeding habits : The Glossy Ibis arrives at its 

 breeding haunts in Europe towards the end of March 

 or in April. Its favourite haunts are swamps and 

 extensive marshes, rivers subject to periodical inun- 

 dations, which every year are flooded, and turn the 

 forests of willows and alders on their banks into haunts 



