LAMELLIBOSTBES: ANSERINE BIBBS. 67T 



dark brown, the spots usually mere pm-heads, sometiioes large blotches. Tlie nest is snme- 

 tiines on dry ground a little away from water. The young hatch covered with Ida.k iloM'ii, 

 fantastically striped with bright orange-red, with vermilion bill tipped with black. 

 885. (addenda.) F. a'tra. (Lat. «/m, black.) European CocT. Like the last. Bill, luclud- 

 ing frontal plate, entirely white ; edge of wing, and of first primary, ^^-hite, but no white .m 

 the erissuin. Europe; only N. Am. as occurring in Greenland. 



X. Order LAMELLIROSTRES : Anserine Birds. 



Bill lamellate: that is, both mandibles furnished along their ti.mial edges with series 

 of laminar or teeth-like projections, alternating and fitting within each (itliei-. C'nvering nf 

 bill membranous, wholly Or in greatest part.. Tongue fleshy, usually M'itli h(.rny tip, an.l 

 serrate or papillate edges corresponding to the denticulations (if the bill. Feet palmate ; lialliix 

 elevated, free, simple, or lobed (rarely absent). Wings never exceedingly baig, rarely very 

 short. Tail generally short and many-feathered. OEsophagus narrower than in tlic lo\\-er 

 flesh -eating orders, usually with a more or less specially formed crop; gizzard strmigly 

 muscular ; intestines and their cffica long ; cloaca capacious. Legs near centre of ecpiilil)rium ; 

 position of body in walking horizontal or nearly so. Reproduction prtecocial. Sexual habit 

 frerpiently polygamous. Diet various, C(.inimonly rather vegetarian than animal. There are 

 'two remarkably diverse types of lamellirostral birds, of more than family value, by simie UdW 

 made the bases of separate orders. The matter at issue may be here compromisca by the 

 recognition of two series, or suborders, as was done in the somewhat parallel cases of Columha, 

 GalKiue, and Alectorides. 



17. Suborder ODONTOGLOSSiE : Grallatorial An.seres. 

 Consisting of the single family of the Flamingoes; the OclontoglosscB nf Nitzscdi, tlie 

 Amphimorphis of Huxley, the Phcenicoxiterida; of most authors. " Tlie genus Phcciiicoptei-us 

 is so completely intermediate between the Anserine birds on the one side, and the Storks and 

 Herons on the other, that it can be ranged with neither of these groups, but must stand as the 

 type of a division by itself. Thus the skull has the lung lacrymo-nasal regiim, the basi- 

 ptcrygoid facets, the prolonged and recurved angle of the mandible, the laminated horny sheath 

 of the Chenomorplia; [Anatidee] ; but the maxillo-palatiues are spongy, and the general structure 

 of the rostrum is quite similar to that found in Storks and Herons. The lower end of the cms 

 is bare, but the feet are fully webl>ed; and the pterylosis is said by Nitzsch to be cfunpletely 

 stork-like." (Huxley.) According to Garrod, two camtids are present, but the right is much 

 larger than tlic left, which joins it low down in the neck (unique in detail, hut similar to the 

 disposition found in Bitterns and certain Parrots; fig. 94). The femoro-caudal is absent ; the 

 ambiens, accessory femoro-caudal, semitendinosus and accessory seinitendiuosus are present 

 (differing both from Herodiones and Anatidee). The tongue is thick, fleshy, papillate, with 

 terminal nail, and closely tied down ; oesophagus extremely narrow, with special crop ; gizzard 

 very muscular ; intestines ample, both in length and calibre ; two long coeea, c(mstricted at 

 base ; a capacious cloaca. Bill of unique shape, but perfectly lamellate. General c^ uifigur- 

 ation of body and members grallatorial ; legs and very slender neck exceedingly long, exhibit- 

 ing even an exaggeration of the proportions of Cranes, Storks, and Herons ; Init toes webbed. 

 The external characters are so nicely balanced between those of wading and swimming birds, 

 that the Flamingoes have been placed indifferently in both groups ; but nearly the \vhole 

 organization corresponds essentially with that of the duck tribe, the grallatorial relationship, 

 in form and habits, though so evident, being rather of analogy than of affinity. The- physi- 

 ological nature is said to be prfficocial; the young hatching clothed and taking directly 

 to the water. 



