Oedee PHffiNICOPTERI. 



LAMELLIROSTRAL GRALLATORES. 



CiiAE. Lamellirostral and Prfficocial Grallatores, with the neck and legs excess- 

 ively elongated, the anterior toes fully webbed, tlie hallux very small, elevated, 

 or sometimes altogether wanting, the bill abruptly bent in the middle portion, 

 the mandible much deeper in the middle portion than the maxilla. Eggs few 

 in number (one or two), pure white, with a soft calcareous shell. 



The Flamingoes are Lamellirostral Waders, and possess so many peculiarities of 

 structure, that they may very properly be considered as constituting by themselves 

 a distinct Order, for which Professor Huxley has proposed the term AinjMmorphcB. 

 This C)rder comprises a single family, which is represented throughout the warmer 

 parts of the globe, with the exception of the Australian and Malayan Regions. 



Family PHCENICOPTEEIDiE. — The Flamingoes. 



Char. Same as those of the Order. 



The Flamingoes constitute a strongly marked and very peculiar family of birds, 

 resembling somewhat the Cranes, Herons, and Storks in general appearance, but 

 much more nearly related to the Anatidm (Ducks, Geese, and Swans) in their struc- 

 ture, while in the p)eculiar form of the bill and excessive elongation of the neck and 

 legs they are entirely unirpe. There appear to be only two well-marked genera, 

 Phmnicopterus and Phosnicopan'us,^ the latter, distinguished bj^ the absence of the 

 hind toe and a peculiar form of bill, being represented by a single species, found in 

 the Peruvian Andes. 



Genus PHCENICOPTERUS, Linn^us. 



PhimicopterK.i, Linn. S. N. crl. 10, 1758, 139 ; vA. 12, I. 176G, 230 (type, P. ruber, Linn.). 

 Phomicmiaias, Gray, Ibis, 1869, 442 (type, Phu-nicopferus rubidus, Feilden). 

 Pluenicorodifus, Gray, Ibis, 1869, 443 (type, Phmnicopterus ruber, Linn.). 



Char. Neck and legs excessively elongated, the lower two thirds of the tibia bare, the ante- 

 rior two thirds of Vioth tilna and tarsus enveloped by one continuous series fjf broad transverse 

 scutellfc, the circumference completed by a smaller posterior series. All the anterior toes com- 

 pletely webbed, the longest about one fourth the tarsus ; hind toe present, but small and elevated ; 

 claws short, broad, and blunt, scarcely extending beyond the underlying pad forming the end of 



1 Phcenicoparrus, "Br. 185" (Gray), (tyjie, Ph(eiUcopterus audinus, Philippi ; cf. " Ibis," 1869, 

 p. 441, pi. 15, figs. 9, 10). 



