105 



DUCKS. 



DUCKS. 



406 



thought by some equal to partridge. The inhabitants of Provence 

 however are said to throw away the flesh aa fishy, and only to use the 

 feathers as an ornament to other birds at particular entertainments. 

 Not so the Roman epicures. Apicius has left receipts for dressing 

 the whole bird with more than the minute accuracy of a modern 

 cookery book, and the ' Phconicopterus ingena ' appears among the 

 luxuries of the table in Juvenal's eleventh Satire. The braina and 

 tongue figure as one of the favourite dishes of Heliogabalus, and the 

 superior excellence of the latter was dwelt upon by the same Apicius, 

 and noticed by Pliny, where he records the doctrine of that " nepotum 

 omnium altissimns gurges." (Lib. z. c. 48.) Neither has it escaped 

 the pointed pen of Martial 



"Dat mihi pcnna rubens nomen ; scd lingua gulosis 



Nostra sapit : quid si garrula lingua forct T " Lib. xiii. Ixxi. 

 The 'garrula lingua* most probably alludes to the tongues and brains 

 of singing birds, which sometimes formed one of the monstrous dishes 

 at the enormously-expensive Roman entertainments. Dampier does 

 not forget the delicious tongue of the Flamingo, observing that a dish 

 of these tongues is worthy of a place at a prince's table. The bird 

 itself seems to have been held in high repute by the ancients, for it 

 appears to have been one of the victims offered to Caligula, who is 

 said to have been sprinkled while sacrificing with the blood of a 

 Phcenicopter the day before he was murdered. (Suet, in 'Caligula,' 

 22, 57.) 



European Flamingo (Phoenicopteitu ntfgr). 



The European Flamingo is recorded as having been seen everywhere 

 on the African coast and the adjacent islands quite to the Cape of 

 Good Hope. There is a specimen in the South African Museum, London. 

 Le Vaillant found thousands of pelicans and flamingoes on the river 

 Klein-Brak, where the water is brackish owing to the flowing of the 

 tide. It has been occasionally observed on the coasts of Spain, of 

 Italy, and on those of France which lie on the Mediterranean-Sea ; it 

 has been met with at Marseille and some way up the Rhone. Prince 

 . T . Bonaparte notes it aa very rare and accidental in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Rome. In some seasons it has been remarked at Aleppo 

 ni'l in the parts adjacent. It has been noticed on the Persian aide of 

 the Caspian Sea, and thence along the west coast aa far as the Volga, 

 but at uncertain times, and chiefly in considerable flocks, coming 

 from the north coast mostly in October and November. Colonel 

 Sykes records if in his catalogue of birds in the Dukhun (Deccan) as 

 the Hajah-Huns of the Hindoos. It breeds in the Cape de Verd 

 Islands. This species is very shy. Dampier killed fourteen at once 

 by secreting himself and two more ; they are not to be approached 

 openly. Kolben apeaka of their numbcra at the Cape, where by day 

 they resorted to the borders of lakes and rivers, and lodged at night 

 in the long grass on the liill.H. 



M. de la Mormora, in his voyage to Sardinia, gives the following 

 interesting account of this species : It quits Sardinia about the end 

 of March to return about the middle of August : then it is that from 



the bastion which forms the promenade of the inhabitants of Cagliari 

 flights of these magnificent birds may be seen to arrive from Africa. 

 Disposed in a triangular band they show at first in the heavens like a 

 line of fire. They advance in the most regular order, but at the sight 

 of the neighbouring lake there is a pause in their progression, and 

 they appear for a moment immoveable in the air ; then tracing by a 

 slow and circular movement a reversed conical spiral figure they attain 

 the end of their migration. Brilliant in all the splendour of their 

 plumage, and ranged in a line, these birds offer a new spectacle, and 

 represent a small army ranged in order of battle, the uniformity and 

 symmetry of which leaves nothing to be desired ; but the spectator 

 should content himself with observing this peaceful colony from afar. 

 Woe to him if he dare to approach the lake at this deadly season. 



A group of nine of these beautiful birds are at present (1854) in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park, 



P. parvw, Vieillot (P. minor, Flammant Pygmde, Ternminck). M. 

 Temminck observes that no difference is perceptible between the 

 Flamingo of the ancient continent and that of the New World in the 

 form of the mandibles ; their upper mandible shuts on the lower one, 

 and is so constructed as to offer when the bill is shut a very slight 

 difference in the height of the two mandibles. In P. panius the lower 

 mandible, very deep and strongly arched, is formed to receive within 

 the space which separates its walls the whole of the upper mandible, 

 which it entirely hides, so that the upper edges of the lower mandible 

 raise themselves to the height of the surface of the upper jaw. 



Small Flamingo (Phanicopterta parvus). 



The plumage of the adult ia pure rose-colour without spot or 

 streak ; the head, the neck, the back, and all the lower parts, arc of 

 this beautiful tint, which is more lively and pure in the living bird 

 than in the preserved skin, for the fugitive brilliancy of this tint 

 becomes tarnished, and passes into whitish from exposure to the light. 

 The great wing-coverts and those of the tail are slightly deeper in 

 colour than the other parts of the plumage. The whole wing is 

 Covered with feathers of a brilliant scarlet or purple, surrounded by a 

 wide rosy border ; the tail-feathers are black. Base of the bill, cere, 

 and region of the eye, deep purple ; middle of the lower mandible 

 orange-red, and the point black. Joint of the knee, toes, and their 

 membranes, of a fine red ; the tarsus has a livid tint. Total length 

 nearly 3 feet. 



The young of the year are white or whitish, marked with small 

 brown streaks (meches). spread over the head, the neck, the breast, 

 and the coverts of the wings. The first red tints show themselves ou 

 the wings. Bill black. Feet of a reddish livid tint. 



Thin species inhabits the lakes of Africa. Those received by 

 Professor M. Temminck were natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 The young bird in the Museum at Paris was brought from Senegal. ' 



P. Chileniii, Molina (P. ruler, Red Flamingo, Wilson). This 

 species in its adult state scarcely differs from the European Flamingo : 

 it is perhapa not so bright. Catesby says, " When they feed (which 



