-* Fauna : Birds 



the same manner as penguins might do. From heating the water 

 with their pinions, they would take to leaps and skimming flights 

 over the water, beating the air with the pinions instead — pinions 

 on which were developing longer and longer quill-like growths, 

 which eventually evolved into feathers. Having acquired the 

 power of flight, most bird types took to a land and even an 

 arboreal life ; whilst others, like the ancestors of the ostrich, 

 became essentially pedestrian, till their wings dwindled to 

 uselessness. The finfoot suggests so many interesting resem- 

 blances to an early stage in the life of birds (no doubt partly 

 by a process of reversion), that I hope these few lines may stir 

 up educated Liberians to making a special study, for our further 

 information, of one of the most interesting creatures in their 

 country. 



Buttikofer states that one of his assistants shot a flamingo 

 in the vicinity of Cape Mount, in Western Liberia. Mr. Braham 

 informs me that numbers of flamingoes may sometimes be seen 

 on Fisherman Lake. In all probability the flamingo that visits 

 Liberia In a more or less migratory fashion is of the genus or 

 subgenus Ph^eniconais. It has a beak that Is purple-and-rose- 

 colour, and a plumage somewhat more rosy than that of the 

 larger Mediterranean flamingo. ■ 



There are the usual ducks and geese of West African 

 waters : the Spur-winged goose {Plectropterus)^ the widely 

 distributed but very handsome Knob-nosed goose {Sarcidiornis), 

 one or more species of Tree duck and teal {Pteronetta). 



The gorgeous Hagedash ibis {Hagedashia) Is common 

 throughout Liberia. There is also the conspicuous olivaceous 

 ibis {Ibis olivacea). This bird has a red beak and feet. The 

 forehead is naked, and there is a considerable crest on the 

 head of loose feathers with pale yellow centres and coppery 

 green edges. The black skin of the face and forehead is 



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