DUCKS AND FLAMINGOES 39 



adults ; of these there is a black African species 

 and a pied Asiatic one. These birds have a fringe 

 of horny growths towards the tip of the beak, at 

 any rate in adults (for they are absent in the young 

 of the Asiatic kind) ; and this renders the peculiarity 

 of the sifting structure of the Duck's bill being 

 repeated in the Flamingoes of less value as an 

 evidence of affinity. 



Indeed, although many of the less-informed 

 naturalists seem to regard the Flamingoes as simply 

 Roman-nosed Ducks on stilts, anatomists find them 

 to be more closely related to the Storks ; and their 

 bibbling performances, though similar in principle 

 to those of the Ducks, are carried on with a curious 

 difference in detail. In the Ducks the bill has the 

 upper jaw far the larger, the lower fitting within 

 it ; in the Flamingoes the bill is constructed in 

 just the opposite way the lower jaw being so much 

 deeper than the upper that the latter simply is to it 

 as the lid of a box, or in some species shuts within 

 its edges. Being also very freely moveable, it plays 

 like the lower jaw of the Duck, and acts as such, 

 for the Flamingo feeds with its bill upside down, 

 as many must have observed at zoological gardens 

 where these most interesting birds are kept. 



Judging from their behaviour there, they can 

 extract food from water which affords nothing to 

 the Ducks except perhaps Shovellers and this, 

 added to their habit of frequenting salt-lakes, 

 avoided by most other birds, is no doubt a great 

 asset in the struggle for existence to these unprolific 



