PHCENICOPTERUS. 669 



Oates, S/r. F. x. p. 245; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 279. Tantalus falci- 

 nellus, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 241. Scolopax rufa, Scop. Ann. i. p. 93. 

 Numenius igneus, S. G. Gmel., J\ov. Comm. Petrop. xv. p. 460, t. 18. 

 Plegadis falcinellus, Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 335, pi.; Legge, B. Ceylon^ 

 p. 1109; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 271. The GLOSSY IBIS. 



Head, on the crown and sides, deep greenish dark brown, glossed with 

 metallic purple, the feathers lanceolate ; neck, nape, chin and throat, also the 

 back and breast, deep rich reddish brown or chestnut red ; lower back, rump 

 wing coverts and tail dark green, with bronze and purple reflections ; primaries 

 dark brownsih black, tinged with green ; tertiaries dark red brown ; legs black- 

 ish green, with a blue garter above the knee ; claw of mid-toe scooped or 

 hollow below, and forming a sharp edge on one side ; irides brown ; lores 

 nude. 



Length. 22 to 23 inches ; wing 10-5 to II ; bill at front 6 to 6-5 ; tarsus 

 4' 5. Birds of the year are dark 'brown, the feathers of the head, chin and 

 throat margined with white or lineated ; back greenish brown, very little 

 glossed ; under parts dusky. 



Hal. Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N.-W. Porvinces, 

 Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana, Kutch, Central India, Guzerat and the Deccan 

 also Ceylon and Burmah. Recorded also from Arracan. It is not known 

 from the Concan, but possibly occurs there, being a bird essentially affecting 

 paddy fields, marshes and jheels. Breeds in Sind. 



ORDER,-NATATORES. 



Feet more or less fully webbed ; tarsi compressed, generally short, except in 

 the Phcenicopterida ; bill various ; wings also variously developed. The first 

 tribe of the order is Lamellirostres, or birds with thick depressed bills, usually 

 covered with soft skin, the tip commonly called the "nail," above being 

 horny ; the edges of the bill are serrated, forming lamellar teeth, which serve 

 as a sieve. 



Family, PHCENICOPTERID^:. 



Bill thick, rounded, rather compressed on the sides, suddenly bent down- 

 wards in the middle : tarsi and thighs long, the latter naked ; tarsi scutellate. 



Gen. Phoeni COpter US- Linn. 



Margin of bill lamellate and dentate ; nostrils in a groove coveie j by mem- 

 brane ; neck very long; ist and 2nd quill of wing longest; other characters 

 as in the Family. 



1371. Phcenicopterus antiquorum (Tem.\ Bodd., Tab. P. E. 63 . 



Naum. Vogt. t. 233; Gould., B. Eur. pi. 287. Phcenicopterus roseus (Pall.) y 

 Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 775, No. 944; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 257; Murray, Hdblc., 

 Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 230. The FLAMINGO. 



