DUCKS. 323 



powerfully, carrying the neck nearly straight and inclined somewhat forwards, 

 and moving in a series of jerks. In flight, the neck and legs are stretched straight 

 out in front and behind ; the flock progressing in the same formation as geese, and 

 uttering "gaggling" cries almost indistinguishable from those of the latter. 

 Although flamingoes doubtless consume a number of small aquatic animals, it 

 would appear that their chief food consists of various water-plants, which are pulled 

 up from beneath the surface. When feeding, the flamingo turns its head the 

 wrong way up, in which position its bent beak forms a most efficient spoon-like 

 instrument. The nests, as described by Mr. Abel Chapman at the mouth of the 

 Guadalquivir, are in the form of round basin-shaped elevations of mud placed in 

 close continuity on the mud-flats. They may vary from 2 to 6 inches in height, 

 but the majority are very shallow, and present somewhat the appearance of a 

 number of plates spread over the plain. Other single nests were, however, situated 

 in the water, and were in consequence much taller. The eggs, two in number, 

 have a chalky external coating, beneath which is a greenish blue shell. During 

 incubation Mr. Chapman states that the birds have " their long red legs doubled 

 under their bodies, the knees projecting as far as beyond the tail, and their graceful 

 necks neatly coiled away among their back feathers, like a sitting swan, with their 

 heads resting on their breasts." According to Brehm, the period of incubation 

 lasts a month ; and the young take to the water almost immediately after hatching, 

 swimming to a much greater extent than their parents. When conditions are not 

 favourable for building, nests like the above cannot be formed, and the eggs are 

 dropped anywhere ; while, in some seasons, from persecution or want of water, the 

 birds do not breed at all 



Short-Legged During the Miocene period there existed in Europe numerous 



Flamingoes, flamingo-like birds which cannot be referred to the existing genus, 

 even if they belong to the same family. The best known of these have been 

 named Palcelodics, and were smaller birds than modern flamingoes, from which 

 they were distinguished by their relatively shorter and stouter legs and longer toes, 

 while it is highly probable that the beak was not deflected in the manner 

 characterising the true flamingoes. 



THE DUCK TKIBE. 

 Order AXSERES, Family 



Nearly related as are the members of the duck tribe to the flamingoes, yet 

 they are very different-looking birds, easily distinguished by external characteristics. 

 In the first place, their legs are always short, and inferior in length to the wings ; 

 the tibia being usually feathered nearly or quite to the ankle, and scarcely free 

 from the body. The cannon-bone, or metatarsus, differs from that of the flamingoes 

 in its shortness, although the two resemble one another in the shortness and back- 

 ward direction of the trochlea for the second toe, while the tibia is at once 

 distinguished by the marked inflection of its lower extremity. The first toe, 

 although generally small, is always present ; while, as in the flamingoes, the three 

 front toes are, except in one instance, completely webbed. The relatively short 



