52 HISTORY OF THE FLAMINGO. 



which can neither be classed with any of the rest, nor 

 described by any common character. Cuvier himself 

 describes the flamingo as "one of the most extraordinary 

 and most isolated of all birds. The legs, of an excessive 

 length, have the three front toes palmated to the end, and 

 the hind one extemely short. The neck not less long 

 nor less slender than the legs, and the small head supports 

 a bill, whose lower mandible is an oval, bent longitudinally 

 into a semi-cylinderical canal, while the upper one, oblong 

 and flat, is bent crosswise in its centre to join the other 

 exactly. The membranous foss of the nostrils occupies 

 almost the entire side of the part which is behind the trans- 

 verse bend, and the nostrils themselves are a longitudinal 

 cleft of the lower part of the foss. The edges of the two man- 

 dibles are furnished with small and very fine transverse 

 larninae, which, joined to the fleshy thickness of the tongue, 

 gives to these birds some analogy with the ducks. The 

 flamingos might even be placed among the palmipedas, but 

 for the length of the tarsi and the nakedness of the legs. 

 They live on shell fish, insects, and fishes' eggs, which they 

 get by means of their long neck, and by turning their head 

 round to employ with advantage the crook of their upper 

 bill. They build in the marshes a nest of raised earth, on 

 which they rest astride to watch their eggs, as their long 

 necks hinder them from adopting any other position." 



The generic characters are: the bill thick, strong, higher 

 than broad, toothed, conical towards the the point, naked at 

 the base, upper mandible abruptably inflected, and bent 

 down on the under at the lip ; the under broader than the 

 upper ; the nostrils longitudinally placed in the middle of 

 the bill, and covered by a membrane ; legs very long, with 

 three toes before, and a very short one articulated high on 

 the tarsus behind, the fore toes connected by a web which 

 reaches to the claws ; wings middle-sized. 



The principal species of this singular genus, the RED 



