38 B08Y FLAMINGO. 



confounded by Linneeus and others with, the true P. ruber, which 

 is confined to the New World. 



The Rosy Flamingo, as I venture to call it, is found principally 

 on the coasts of Spain, Italy, and France, which abut on the 

 Mediterranean, as well as in the Ural, on the Volga, on the 

 Kirghis Steppes, and throughout India and Ceylon. It is found 

 accidentally in Sicily and Calabria. It has also been met with on the 

 banks of the Rhone, and in Provence; rarely on the Rhine. According 

 to Temminck it passes the winter in great numbers in the marshes 

 and swamps between Cagliari and Capoterra. Some years it is 

 common in Sardinia, and others not seen there at all. It leaves 

 Europe in March, and may then be found along the North African 

 coast. 



Lord Lilford (Ibis, vol. ii, p. 348,) mentions its occurrence in the 

 Ionian Islands, in Tunis, Sardinia, . and the south of Spain, and 

 states that he has been assured it occurs in great numbers in the 

 island of Cyprus. Dr. Antonio Machado, in his "Catalogo de las 

 Aves Observada en Algunas Provincias de Andalucia," says it is 

 frequent on the banks of the Guadalquivir, and very common in the 

 neighbourhood of Donana; — it migrates in spring. Count Miihle says 

 it is not improbable that this bird does come into Greece occa- 

 sionally, as it is common on the Adriatic coasts. Lindermayer does 

 not support this supposition, although he alludes to the capture of 

 one straggler, about which, however, the evidence does not appear 

 to be very clear. In Malta Mr. C. Wright says: — "^ P. roseus. — 

 Very common on the inland lakes and lagoons all along the coast of 

 Barbary; is only a chance visitor to this island, doubtless from the 

 want of extensive sheets of shallow brackish water, in which it delights. 

 It is not, however, unfrequently met with crossing the Mediterranean, 

 although it is not annually seen in Malta. Perhaps it has oftener 

 been observed here in June than at any other time of the year. 

 The last one I know of was taken in May, 1860." 



On the Asiatic coasts the Rosy Flamingo is very abundant, more 

 particularly in the vast and impenetrable marshes on the eastern 

 shores of the Caspian Sea, in Persia and Arabia. Dr. Leith Adams 

 writes to me, "It is not uncommon on the great rivers or the inland 

 lakes of Hindostan. There is a small and large variety, evidently 

 distinct races, inasmuch as they are found in separate flocks; the 

 difference in the length of the legs of the two is never under four 

 inches. The smaller is the least common." 



In Africa, Canon Tristram informs us that it has an aversion to 

 marshes or lakes which are partially surrounded by trees. He 



