FIRECRES T—FLAMINGO 253 
ward.t In 1848 another species, wholly distinct, was described as 
P. personata by G. R. Gray, from a specimen obtained in Malacea, 
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 
Heliornithide, 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 abbreviation 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 Zonxginthus 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 OsprRry, 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 Phenicopterus 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 
1 Dr. Biittikofer’s evidence (Notes Leyd. Mus. x. pp. 103-105) is to the effect 
that there is only one species in Africa. 
2 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 (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1890, pp. 441, 442) of P. senegalensis 
is to shew that the osteological and myological characters are almost in antagonism ; 
but he concludes that the Heliorni‘hidxe form a distinct Family ‘‘ which has 
traversed for a certain distance the branch leading from the Rails to the 
Colymbidz and has then diverged rather widely in a direction of its own.” 
3 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, 
