ARGENTINE FLAMINGO 137 



bird without any traces of such marks and with a 

 rose-coloured tail; and the disparity in number 

 between mature and immature birds of one species 

 could not well be so great as that. I have shot one 

 immature specimen of the true Ajaja — so immature 

 that it seemed not long out of the nest ; but the head 

 was bare of feathers, and it had the knobs on the 

 upper mandible, only they were so soft that they 

 could be indented with the nail of the finger. A^ara 

 also mentions an immature bird which he obtained, 

 but he does not say that the head was feathered; 

 and even this negative evidence goes a great way, 

 since it would have been very unlike him to see a 

 Spoonbill with a feathered head and otherwise unlike 

 Ajaja rosea, and not describe it as a distinct species. 

 To conclude, I may mention that the pet bird my 

 friend kept was of the pale-plumaged species, and 

 never lost the feathers from its head, nor did it, in 

 seven years, acquire any of the characteristic marks 

 of P. ajaja. 



ARGENTINE FLAMINGO 



Phaerticopterus ignipaJtiatus 



Plumage rosy red; wing-coverts ciimson; wing-feathers black; 

 bill pale red, apical half black ; length 39, wing 15 inches. Female 

 similar but smaller. 



The Argentine Flamingo inhabits the whole of the 

 Argentine country, down to the Rio Negro in the 

 south, where I found it very abundant. The resi- 

 dents told me of a breeding-place there — a shallow 



