238 



Order GRALLATORES. 



Genus Phcenicopterus. 



1278. The skeleton of the Red Flamingo (Plicenicopterus ruder). 



Here the stilt-like proportions of the tibia and metatarsus, with the concomitant length of 

 the neck, characteristic of the Order of Wading Birds, are strongly manifested. The chief 

 peculiarities of the present genus are the completely webbed structure of the feet, in the entire 

 bird ; and, as may be seen in the skeleton, the bending down of the bones of the upper and 

 lower beak, accompanied by an expansion and flattening of the upper, and a singular exca- 

 vation of the symphysial part of the lower jaw, the alveolar borders of which bend inwards. 

 The texture of the deflected parts of the beak is extremely light, the surface being almost 

 everywhere minutely perforated like a sieve, except at the smooth alveolar borders. There 

 are 23 vertebrae between the skull and sacrum, of which the last six support ribs ; those of 

 the first pair are rudimentary ; the succeeding five pairs articulate with the sternum by bony 

 hseinapophyses ; the last and seventh pair of ribs are attached to the sacrum, and also reach 

 the sternum by means of bony heemapophyses. These heemapophyses increase in length as 

 they approach the sacrum. There are 9 caudal vertebrae. 



The specimen from which this skeleton was prepared was brought from the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



Purchased. 



1279. The dried head of the Red Flamingo (Phcenicopterus ruber). Hunterian. 



Genus Brachypteryx. 



1280. The skeleton of the Short-winged Rail of New Zealand (Brachypteryx Au- 

 slraliis). 



Of the 21 vertebrae between the skull and the sacrum the nine posterior ones bear move- 

 able ribs, the last seven of which unite with the sternum by bony htemapophyses. 



The occipital surface of the skull is moderately broad, and inclines from below upwards 

 and forwards from the foramen magnum. The mastoid sends down a very small process 

 outside the tympanic articulation, and a somewhat larger and thicker true mastoid process. 

 The postfrontal is short and thick. The temporal fossa is unusually broad, and is continued 

 into a slight depression above the process. The nasal bones and nasal process of the pre- 

 maxillary are anchylosed to the frontal. The prefrontals send out a short antorbital plate, 

 which does not reach the lachrymal bone. The external nostrils are excavated in the poste- 

 rior two-thirds of the beak. The suture between the squamosal and malar portions of the 

 straight slender zygomatic arch still remains. The angle of the lower jaw is slightly bent 



