PHOENICOPTERIDAE PALAELODIDAE I 05 



secondaries, and elongated straw-yellow plumes on the fove-neck 

 in tlie nn])tial j)erio(l : the naked forehead, ocular region, throat, 

 hill, and feet heing yellow : wliile a hlaek line separates the gorge 

 from the feathered parts in the adult, ^-{/aja rosea of tropical 

 America, which reaches the South-East United States, is rose- 

 l>ink, with white neck, l>ack, and Ijreast, pinkisli-l>uff tail, and 

 carmine wing- and tail-coverts; the l)are head is yellowish-green, 

 the orl)its and throat are orange, the liill is greenish-hlue with 

 grey anil l)lack l)ase, the feet are crimson, while a curly pink tuft 

 is developed on the fore-neck in the hreeding season. 



The female vS})oonhill is like the male. The young seem to be 

 duller, with no erest or ornamental plumes : in some cases the prim- 

 aries are tipped with black, in Ajaja the head is entirely feathered. 



Of fossil forms, Ihidopsis occurs in the Upper Eocene of England, 

 Ibis and Ihi(h)jiiHli<(, the latter of wliich connects the Il)ises with 

 the Storks, in the Miocene of France, Ibis also in that of Bavaria, 

 I'rofibis in that of Patagonia, Plufdlra in the Queensland drifts. 



Uanis. X.-XT. The Sub-Order rHOENlCOPTERi, including the 

 Phoenicopteridae or Flamingos and the extinct Palaelodidae, 

 stands midway l)etween the Storks and the Geese, having been on 

 that account terjned A:\iphiaiorphae by Huxley, a term equivalent to 

 the Odoxtoclossae of Nitzsch. The extraordinary Flamingos have 

 A'ery long slender necks and unwieldy-looking bills, high at the base 

 anil aliruptly bent down in the middle, the maxilla being readily 

 movable and in some cases smaller than the nearly immovable 

 grooved mandible — a condition of affairs seldom found elsewhere, 

 and correlated with the peculiar method of feeding. As in the 

 Anseres, the beak — which is sliort and straight in the yovmg 

 ■ — is covered with a soft mend mine, and ends in a black nail-like 

 process rich in nerves, the margins being furnished in the adult 

 with horny lamellae. The legs are miusually long, with nearly 

 bare tibiae and laterally compressed metatarsi, co\ered with 

 ])roa(l scutes which l)ecome smaller posteriorly; the hallux is 

 absent or somewhat elevated and reduced, while the short anterior 

 toes are fully webbed and have Hat stunted claws. The wing is 

 fairly long, with twelve primaries and about twenty-two second- 

 aries ; the tail is even, with fourteen small weak rectrices. Tlie 

 furcula is U-shaped, the nostrils are pervious, the tongue is thick, 

 an aftershaft is present, and the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial. 



Phoenicopterus ruber, v'Ai\\i,m)i,i\xm\ Florida to Farjiand the (Jala- 



