FIRECREST— FLAMINGO 253 



ward.^ In 1848 another species, Avholly distinct, was described as 

 P. personata by G. E. Gray, from a specimen obtained in Malacca, 

 and it has since been found to inhabit Tenasserim, Burma, and 

 Assam, though not yet recognized in India properly so called. 



These birds are certainly entitled to form a distinct Family 

 HeUornithidm, allied to the Rails, but probably, as their geographical 

 distribution suggests, a more ancient and therefore more general- 

 ized group, which would well repay further anatomical examination.^ 

 Examples are by no means common in museums, though it can 

 hardly be that the birds are not in their own haunts sufficiently 

 numerous ; and their seeming scarcity may be attributed to their 

 shyness and means of escaping observation {cf. W. Davison, Stray 

 Feathers, vi. p. 465). Nothing is known of their nidification or eggs. 



FIRECREST, a colloquial abbreAaation of Fire-crested Wren, 

 Regulus ignicapillus (see Goldcrest). 



FIRETAIL, a common English name of the Redstart ; and, 

 according to Gould (Hand-b. B. Austral, i. p. 406), given in Tas- 

 mania to Zonseginthus bellus, a small Finch-like or Weaver-bird. 



FISCAL, the name given in the Cape Colony to a Shrike, 

 Lanius collaris, from its rapacity, which no revenue -officer could 

 exceed {cf. Latham, Gen. Hist. B. ii. p. 22 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 157). 



FISH-HAWK, a name for the Osprey, especially given to it 

 in North America. 



FLAMINGO (Portuguese Flamingo, Spanish Flamenco), a bird 

 conspicuous for the bright flame-coloured or scarlet patch upon its 

 wings, and long known by its classic name Phoinicopterus as an 

 inhabitant of most of the countries bordering the Mediterranean 

 Sea, in some of which it is still far from uncommon.^ Other 

 species have since been discovered, and both its common and 



^ Dr. Biittikofer's evidence {Notes Lcyd. 3Ius. x. pp. 103-105) is to the effect 

 that there is only one species in Africa. 



- Brandt's investigations above mentioned were confined to the head and feet 

 of Heliornis ; Jerdon had apparently seen the whole skeleton of P. personata. I 

 myself have the sternum of a male and female of P. petersi, sent to me by Mr. 

 Layard from Natal. The characters of this part of the skeleton are certainly 

 Rail-like in a general way, but yet offer a good many peculiarities. The result 

 of Mr. Beddard's examination {Pj-oc. Zool. Soc. 1890, pp. 441, 442) of P. senegalcnsis 

 is to shew that the osteological and myological charactei's are almost in antagonism : 

 but he concludes that the Heliornilhida^ form a distinct Family "which has 

 traversed for a certain distance the branch leading from the Rails to the 

 Colymbidse and has then diverged rather widely in a direction of its own." 



^ In Greece and Asia Minor, however, it is rare, and to this cause is most 

 likely to be attributed Aristotle's silence concerning it, though it was known, by 

 name at least, to Aristophanes. 



