CEYLON WATER BIRDS. BA 
Young birds are deep brown, the feathers of the upper 
surface fringed with buff, while the breast and sides of the 
body are dusky brown. 
Bill dusky red-brown, lighter underneath ; iris golden- 
brown, sometimes with an outer ring of red; facial skin livid 
or red-brown ; legs dark brown. 
Length 23; wing 8; tail 2:7; tarsus 2-7; bill from 
gape 4. 
Distribution.—Probably a partial migrant, but some birds 
remain to breed. It is nowhere common, but is widely 
scattered over the low-country. It is extremely local in most 
parts of India, but commoner in Eastern Bengal and Burma, 
ranging eastward to China and the Dutch East Indies. 
Habits —This species often passes unnoticed owing to its 
skulking nocturnal habits. It breeds about April, in which 
month I have twice found the nest in the North-Central 
Province. In each case it wasa small structure of twigs placed 
on a low thorny tree within three feet of the surface of a tank. 
The full clutch numbers four eggs, of very pale sea-green, 
measuring about 1°65 by 1°25. 
Order PHCENICOPTERI. 
Family PH@NICOPTERIDA. 
Genus Pheenicopterus. 
Flamingoes. 
These birds stand in an order by themselves. In their 
length of neck and limb, and in their general structure, they 
approach the Storks ; in the formation of the foot with its 
fully-webbed front toes and rudimentary hind toe, and also 
in the fact that the young when hatched are covered with 
down and able to run, they resemble Ducks and Geese. 
Flamingoes feed in shallow water with their inverted heads 
. between their legs, and the bill is adapted accordingly. It is 
bent in the middle, the lower mandible is large and practically 
fixed, while the upper mandible issmalland movable. As with 
the Ducks, the whole bill, except the tip, is covered with soft 
7 6(7)17 
