PHCENICOPTEBID^ 



PHCENICOPTBEUS 



109 



outer secondaries and their coverts black ; rest of the wing above 

 and below and the axillaries bright crimson. 



Iris pale straw ; bill (iacluding the skin of the throat and round 

 the eyes) flesh-pink, the terminal third black ; legs livid pink, claws 

 black. 



Length (in flesh) 55-0 ; wing 18-5 ; tail 60 ; culmen 55 ; tarsus 

 12'5. Height when standing about 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet. The 

 female is like the male but rather smaller ; a young bird is white 

 without any rosy tinge, most of the feathers streaked with dark 

 brown, the coverts mostly brown, axillaries pale pink ; the base of 

 the bill dull pinkish ; legs dull plumbeous. 



Fig. 30. — Head of Phcenicopterus roseus. 



The younger female is brown throughout, slightly paler on the 

 wings ; iris hazel ; bill horny-brown ; skin of the neck and legs 

 leaden-grey ; tarsal scales horny. 



The nestling is pale brown, the back covered with stiff bristle- 

 like down, black, white and tawny intermixed ; the head and neck 

 are pale or tawny-brown becoming rufous on the crown and marked 

 with longitudinal stripes and spots of black ; the under-parts are 

 pale tawny and the down is much finer. In older birds the bristles 

 are shed and the back is mottled fulvous and dark brown. 



Distribution. — This Flamingo is found throughout Southern 

 Europe and Asia from Spain to Lake Baikal, India and Ceylon and 

 southward throughout Africa to Cape Colony. 



In South Africa the Flamingo is very abundant in certain 

 localities, especially along the coast, though it occasionally wanders 

 inland where there are lakes ; it was formerly common enough about 

 the neighbourhood of Cape Town and particularly on the vleis near 

 Muizenberg, but owing to the increase of population and the con- 



