RED FLAMINGO. 393 



the head is thrust down into the mud-shoals and 

 the sand drifts, the upper bill alone touches the 

 ground. The structure of the tongue, of which 

 Professor Owen has given so minute and interest- 

 ing a description, is admirably adapted for a mode 

 of feeding altogether peculiar. The spines with 

 which the upper surface is armed, are arranged in 

 an irregular and alternate series, and act with the 

 notches on the edge of the upper mandible, on 

 which they press when the bird feeds with the 

 head reversed. In this reversed position, the weight 

 and size of the tongue becomes a very efficient in- 

 strument for entrapping the food. The bird mud- 

 dles, and clatters the bill, and dabbles about, and 

 the tongue receives and holds as a strainer whatever 

 the water offers of food. 



" When I made my notes of the Flamingo, I 

 thought I had remarked what had hitherto been 

 unobserved, respecting the ceaseless trampling of 

 the feet while feeding ; but I find Catesby has 

 described it ... A correspondent of BufFon's also, 

 I perceive, communicated the same fact, with other 

 incidents equally striking .... 



" There is nothing of the Heron character in 

 the Flamingo. Extraordinary length of neck and 

 legs is common to both, but a firm erect posture 

 is its ordinary standing attitude. The neck is 

 never curved inward and outward, convex and con- 

 cave, like a Crane's, but its movements are in 

 long sweeping curves, which are peculiarly pleasing, 

 when the bird is preening its plumage. 



" The bar at the mouth of the Rio Conta stretches 



s 5 



