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Family PHCENICOPTEKID^l. 



Genus PHCENICOPTERUS. 

 Phoenicopterus, Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 532 (1760). 



By many authors the family Phcenicopteridse has been placed amongst the Anseres ; and the 

 Flamingos are certainly, in many respects, allied to the Geese ; but it appears to me that they 

 should be placed amongst the Herodii, between which and the Anseres they form, as it were, a 

 connecting link. This genus is represented in the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Nearctic, and 

 Neotropical Regions, one species inhabiting the Western Palsearctic Region, its range being 

 given in the following article. 



To some extent these birds resemble the Herons and Spoonbills in habits. They are essen- 

 tially gregarious, being found at all seasons in flocks. They frequent lakes, lagoons, and the flat 

 open shores of the sea. They feed on aquatic insects, crustaceans, worms, and vegetable matter, 

 and wade far out in search of food. They fly with tolerable ease, reminding one somewhat of 

 the Swan, but rise on the wing with some difficulty. Although they do not take to the water 

 readily, yet they can and do swim with tolerable ease when out of their depth. Their cry 

 resembles that of the Wild Goose. They place their eggs, usually two in number, on the 

 ground, not making any regular nest, but only scraping the mud together so as to form a sort 

 of hillock. The eggs are white in colour, about the size and shape of those of the Wild Goose ; 

 but the surface is chalky. 



Phcenicopterus roseus, the type of the genus, has the bill longer than the head, membranous 

 at the base, curved suddenly downwards from the middle, both mandibles edged with fine trans- 

 verse lamellae, the lower mandible much larger and higher than the upper one ; nostrils near the 

 middle of the bill, longitudinal, placed in a depression, covered with a membrane ; the space in 

 front of the eye, and at the base of the bill, including the chin, bare ; wings moderately long, 

 the first and second quills nearly equal and longest, the inner secondaries longer than the 

 primaries ; tail short, even ; legs very long and slender, the chief portion of the tibia bare ; 

 tarsus anteriorly and posteriorly scutellate ; toes moderately long, united by a membrane ; claws 

 short, stout, and blunt ; neck very long and slender. 



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