RED FLAMINGO. 25 



rating the black of the hind neck from that of the body ; claws blackish 

 horn. 



The female is about half an inch shorter, and differs in having the 

 plumage of the upper back and scapulars, and also the tertials, of a 

 deep brown color. The stomach, or gizzard, was extremely muscular, 

 and contained fragments of small snail shells, winged bugs, and a slimy 

 matter, supposed to be the remains of some aquatic worms. In one of 

 these females I counted upwards of one hundred and fifty eggs, some 

 of them as large as buckshot. The singular form of the legs and feet, 

 with the exception ^f the hind toe and one membrane of the foot, is 

 exactly like those of the Avoset. The upward curvature of the bill, 

 though not quite so great, is also the same as in the other, being rounded 

 above, and tapering to a delicate point in the same manner. In short, 

 a slight comparison of the two is suflScient to satisfy the most scrupulous 

 observer, that nature has classed these two birds together ; and so 

 believing, we shall not separate them. 



Genus LXXXVII. PH(i)NICOPTEKUS. FLAMINGO. 

 Species. P. RUBER. 



RED FLAMINGO. 



[Plate LXVI. Fig. 4.] 



Le Flammant, Briss. ti., p. 533, pi. 47, fig. I.^Buff. tiii., p. 475, pi. 39. PI. Ent. 

 63.— Lath. Syn.- in., p. 299.— ^i-ci. Zool. No. 422.— Catesbt, i., pi. 73, 74! 



This very singular species being occasionally seen on the southern 

 frontiers of the United States, and on the peninsula of East Florida, 

 where it is more common, has a claim to a niche in our Ornithological 

 Museum, although the author regrets that from personal observation he 

 can add nothing to the particulars of its history, already fully detailed 

 in various European works. From the most respectable of these, the 

 Synopsis of Dr. Latham, he has collected such particulars as appear 

 authentic and interesting. 



" This remarkable bird has the neck and legs in a greater dispropor- 

 tion than any other bird, the length from the end of the bill to that of 

 the tail is four feet two or three inches, but to the end of the claws 

 measures sometimes more than six feet. The bill is four inches and a 

 quarter long, and o"f a construction different from that of any other bird ; 

 the upper mandible very thin and flat, and somewhat movable ; the under 

 thick, both of them bending downwards from the middle ; the nostrils 



