PH(ENICOPTEBII)M : FLAMINGOES. 679 



•87. P. ru'ber. (Lat. ruber, red. Fig. 469.) Amekican Red Flamingo. Adult $ ? : Plu- 

 mage scarlet, the primaries and most of the secondaries hlaek. Legs lake-red. Bill black on 

 the terminal part, orange in the middle, the base and bare skin of head yellow. Young the 

 first year white or rosy. Stature nearly 5 feet; weight 6 or 8 lbs. Length about 4 feet; extent 

 of wings 5 feet or more ; wing 16 inches ; tail 6 ; bill 5 ; tibia bare 9 ; tarsus 13 ; middle toe and 

 claw 3i. 9 like $ in color, but smaller. Florida and Gulf coast, and southward ; said to 

 have been N. to S. Carolina. Eggs 2, 3.25 X 2.10, with thick .shell, roughened with white 

 flaky substance, bluish when this is scraped away. The nest is described as a heap of earth 

 and other material, which the birds bestride in an ungainly attitude ; but it is not high enough 

 to permit their long legs to dangle, as represented in some popular accounts and pictorial 

 efibrts. A recent writer upon one of the Old World species states positively that the incubating 

 bird doubles her legs under her in the usual way ; so that, unless the American species does 

 differently, the accompanying illustration mast be considered conventional. The young are 

 said, on good authority, to take to the water as soon as hatched. 



18. Suborder ANSEEES : Anserine Birds Proper. 



Simply equivalent to Lamellirostres as above defined, minus the Grallatorial type. For 

 forther characters, see on, under head of the single 



52. Family ANATID-^ : G-eese, Ducks, etc. 



Bill lamellate, stout, more or less elevated and compressed at 

 base, widened or flattened at the obtuse tip, invested vrith soft, 

 tough, leathery membrane, except at the end, which is furnished 

 with a hard, horny "nail," generally somewhat overhanging, 

 sometimes small and distinct, sometimes large and fused ; that is, 

 changing insensibly into the general covering. (This soft cover- 

 ing is regarded by some as a prolonged cere ; but this is purely 



„ theoretical.) Body full, heavy, flattened beneath ; neck of variable 



Fig. 470. — Wild Duck. , , , , _ '' ,, ..^ . , „ 



length; head large; eyes small. No antise; the frontal feathers 



encroaching on the culmeu with a convex or pointed outline, and forming other projections on 

 the sides of the bill, and in the interramal space, which latter is broad and long, the mandib- 

 ular crura beiug united only at the end by a. broad short bridge ; no culminal ridge nor keel 

 of gonys. Nostrils subbasal, median, or subterminal, elevated, open, naked, usually broadly 

 oval. Wings of moderate length (rarely very short), stiff, strong, pointed, conferring rapid, 

 vigorous, whistling flight ; a wild duck at full speed is said to make ninety miles an hour. 

 Tail of variable shape, but usually short and rounded, never forked, sometimes cuneate, of 

 12-24 feathers, usually 14-16, the under coverts very long and full, forming a conspicuous 

 erissal tuft. Legs short; knees buried in the general integument ; tibise feathered nearly or 

 quite to the sufirago ; tarsi reticulate or scuteUate, or both ; toes palmate, the hinder always 

 present and free, simple or lobate. Wing occasionally spurred. 



Like the gallinaceous, the anserine type is a familiar one, comprising all kinds of " water- 

 fowl," among which are the originals of all our domestic breeds of swans, geese, and ducks, 

 that vie vnth poiiltry in point of economic consequence, ornament our parks, or furnish exquisite 

 material for wearing apparel, as well as the filling of our pillows and couches. But additional 

 information respecting the structure of this, the largest and most important family of swimming 

 birds, may be desirable. It is definitely characterized by many important points besides those 

 external features just stated. In palatal structure, Anatida are desmognathous (fig. 78) ; "the 

 lacrymal region of the skuU is remarkably long [the lacrymal bone itself is large] . The basi-. 

 sphenoidal rostrum has oval sessile basipterygoid facets. The flat and lamellar maxiUo-palatines 



