438 Mr. G. R. Gray on the Bills 



but differ in no other respect from B. atricajnlla as sent 

 by Mr. Ayres from Natal. Mr. Guruey also agrees with 

 me in the opinion that B. atricapilla is identical with B. 

 javanica^. 



XL. — Notes on the Bills of the species of Flamingo (Phoeni- 

 copterus). By G. R. Gray, E.R.S. &c. 



(Plates XIII.-XV.) 



From the days of Linnaeus (1758) down to those of Latham 

 (1824) it was supposed that only two species of Phosnicopterus 

 existed ; and one of these was considered to inhabit both the Old 

 World and the New. The European bird was regarded by Bon- 

 naterre, in 1790, as a variety of the American one ; but in 1820 

 Temminck proposed to separate the European bird as a distinct 

 species, under the name of P. antiquorum, leaving the American 

 one as P. ruber. The correctness of this separation, however, was 

 doubted by Latham in his ' History of Birds,* in 1824. Another 

 species, not mentioned by previous authors, was added in 1797 

 by Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, who described a small one under the 

 name of P. minor from West Africa, which made the third species 

 then (that is, prior to 1820) known, viz. P. ruber, L. 1758, P. chi- 

 lensis, Mol. 1782, and P. minor, Geoffr. 1797. Since then the 

 genus has been increased by the discovery of five other species, 

 about the distinctness of which there exists much diversity of 

 opinion. In the hope of putting an end to these doubts, I have 

 been induced to collect together the following notes and to have 

 drawn the accompanying plates of the bills of Flamingos of 

 different localities. They will, I hope, assist in exemplifying 

 their peculiar conformation, and may be regarded as representa- 

 tions of their specific characters, so that the subject of each of 

 them may become in future an acknowledged species. 



The general characteristics of the formation of these singular 

 bills have so often been described by authors, that it is un- 

 necessary to repeat them here ; and I will at once endeavour 



• [Cf Suiidevall, GEfvers. K. Vet. Ac. Furbaudl. 1849, p. 1G3, and 

 Sclirenck, Reis. Amur-Laude, i. p. 437. — Ed.] 



