ORDER GRALL.€. .543 



cbverts and the irides, bright-brown ; the flanks and vents 

 are spotted with white, on a yellowish ground. 



The birds of the division Vaginalis belong to New Zea- 

 land ; they unite in flocks on the shore, and live on shell- 

 moUusca and dead fish. 



The Pratincoles are found in all the northern parts of 

 the ancient world. They are only birds of passage in some 

 provinces of Germany, in France, in Switzerland, and in 

 Italy ; they fly in flocks, and are clamorous neai' the edge of 

 waters ; they live on worms and aquatic insects ; little is 

 known concerning their reproduction. These remarks apply 

 to the common species ; of the habits of the rest, little or 

 nothing is known. The Cream-coloured Pratincole may be 

 an inedited species, or a variety of the L. Glareola of Tern., 

 described at page 418, distinguished by the spots on the 

 neck. 



The last genus of the grallas is the Flamingo. The 

 Greeks called this bird Phosnicopterus^ which means wings of 

 flame, an epithet especially suitable to individuals of two 

 years old, whose wings alone are of a fine carnation, while 

 the neck and body are still invested with white plumes. 



The characters are so fully given in the text, that it would 

 be needless to insist upon them further. The following 

 general observations must be considered as drawn chiefly 

 from an examination of the common species, the phoenicop- 

 terus of the ancients. 



The flamingo appears extended over the entire globe, from 

 below forty up to forty-six degrees of latitude. This bird, 

 which never visits the regions of the north, is migratory in 

 the warm and temperate climates of both continents. It is 

 merely a bird of passage on the southern coasts of Europe, 

 and only to be met accidentally on the rivers in the interior. 

 These flamingos live on shell-mollusca, on the spawTi of fish, 

 and on insects. Always in flocks, they form in file for the 



