BIRDS. 199 



■was not tad. Nevertheless, at first I could not eat of it without some repugnance, because the 

 fat of the Parrina has the uncommon color of cinnabar. On returning, I examined the Parrina 

 carefully, and recognised immediately that it was of a species very different from the four fla- 

 mingos known; and, notwithstanding that there were no books on the subject accessible, I did 

 not hesitate to say, that the bird had hitherto remained entirely unknown to naturalists. 



"The genus Flamingo, distinguished so eminently from all other birds, that it is impossible 

 to confound them, embraces only four species, as I have just said. The first is the PhcBnicopte- 

 rus ruber, which inhabits the south of Europe and opposite coast of Africa ; the second is the 

 P. hahamensis of Catesby, found in the Antilles and vicinal portions of the continent of Amer- 

 ica; the third is the P. ignipalliatus of Isidro Geoffrey St. Hilaire, the common flamingo of 

 Chile, equally found in Buenos Ayres and generally in the southern part of America ; and the 

 fourth is the P. minor of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, which is found in southern Africa as far as Sen- 

 egal. I must observe that Don Juan Ignacio Molina describes a fifth species under the name 

 of Phcenicopterns chilensis, (see his Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Chile, Bologna, 1'782, 

 p. 212,) assigning it white wing-quills. But this estimable writer was not a naturalist, and, 

 from all evidences^ described nearly every animal and plant of Chile from memory ; necessarily 

 committing many errors, and causing the enumeration of several genera and species in works 

 on natural history which have no actual existence. The Phcenicopterns chilensis of Molina is 

 one of these. The author was wrong in giving it white wing-quills, whilst they were black, 

 as on all the other flamingos ; and he was not less in error when he states, in the page referred 

 to, 'it is said that these birds when young are of a gray color, but I have seen both young and 

 full-grown^ and have found them uniformly of the same color' — that is to say, red. The young 

 flamingos of Chile are gray, like those of Europe. 



"The flamingo of the desert cannot be mistaken either for the P. ruber of Europe or the 

 P. bahamensis of the Antilles, because these species have characteristics sufficiently different. 

 Moreover, it is essentially distinct from the P. ignipalliatus of South America. At the first 

 glance it is seen to be smaller and of a different color. The neck and breast have a color 

 approaching carmine, or somewhat resembling the lees of wine. The red color of the wing 

 coverts is much darker ; not only the primary and secondary wing-quills being of that color, 

 but also the tertiary. The feet also are of a very diiferent color — that is to say, they are of a 

 pale yellow — and the mandibles have a red-colored portion between the black extremity and 

 their yellow base. To this it may be added that the tail is longer than the extremities of the 

 wings. 



"But the Parrina offers differences much more essential. The bill has a very diverse conform- 

 ation, being much wider ; the upper mandible (quijada) is greatly more depressed, and the 

 inferior much narrower than the upper, whilst there is no such inequality in the common fla- 

 mingo. In the Parrina the feathers extend to the angle where the two branches of the lower 

 jaw unite, and even beyond it ; in the flamingo, on the contrary, they do not come so far, but 

 leave the skin there bare for more than half an inch. The feet also differ essentially, want- 

 ing the hind toe which is very manifest in the flamingo. The difi'erences of the bill and feet 

 are sufficient to establish a sub-genus, and perhaps a new genus, but I leave this to the taste 

 of those who think that the merits of a naturalist consist in fabricating the greatest possible 

 number of new genera. 



"According to the brief notices of it obtainable from the books within my reach, the Phceni- 

 copterus minor appears to have a bill formed nearly as that of the Parrina ; but that bird is said 

 to have alternate bands of red and black colors in the superior wing coverts, and red feet, so 

 that it cannot be confounded with the latter. 



"As the Parrina does not leave the elevations of the cordilleras, it appears proper to call it 

 Phcenicopterns andinus; and I give the following diagnosis of it: Ph. roseo-albus; parte inf&- 

 riore cxlli pectoreque fere puniceis ; alis coccineis, apice toto nigris; cauda alis longiore, acuminata 



