280 



PHCENICOPTERID^. 



and throat margined with white or lineated ; back greenish brown, 

 very little glossed ; under parts dusky. 



Hab. — Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N. W. Pro- 

 vinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana, Kutch, Central India, Guzerat and the 

 Deccan. It is not known from the Ooncan, but possibly occurs there, 

 being a bird essentially affecting paddy fields, marshes and jheels. 

 Breeds in Sind. 



ORDER— NATATORES. 



Peet more or less fully webbed ; tarsi compressed^ generally short, 

 except in the PhcenicopteridcB ; bill various; wings also variously 

 developed. The first tribe of the order is Lamellirostres, or birds 

 with thick depressed bills, usually covered with soft skin, the tip com- 

 monly called the " nail," above being horny ; the edges of the bill are 

 serrated, forming lamellar teeth, which serve as a sieve. 



Family, PHCENICOPTERID^. 



Bill thick, rounded, rather compressed on the sides, suddenly bent 

 downwards in the middle ; tarsi and thighs long, the latter naked ; tarsi 

 scutellate. 



Gen. Phoenicopterus,— iiww. 



Margin of bill lamellate and dentate; nostrils in a groove covered by 

 membrane; neck very long ; 1st and 2nd quills of wing longest; other 

 characters as in the Family. 



Phoenicopterus antiquorum, Tem. ; P. E. 63 ; Naum. Vogt. t. 



233; Gould. B. Eur. pi. 287. Phcsnicopterus roseus. Pall. ; Jerd. B. Ind. 

 iii_. p. 775, No. 944; Hume, Sir. F. i. 257; Murray, Edbk., Zool., fc, 

 Sind, p. 230.- — The Flamingo. 



Plumage throughout of a rosy white in the adult bird; primaries 

 and secondaries black ; primary and greater wing-coverts white, dark 

 shafted and broadly tipped with black, rest of the wing-coverts and 

 tertiaries rosy red ; axillaries and under wing-coverts rosy red ; bill 

 rosy, broadly black at the tip ; legs and feet rosy red. 



Length. — 48 to 54 inches, wing 16 to 16-5, tail 6, bill 4 to 4'12. 

 Birds of the year have scarcely any rosy tinge, and the plumage, 

 especially of the upper parts, is mixed with dusky. 



Bab. — Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, 

 Oudh, Bengal, Central India, Eajputana, Kutch, Guzerat, Concan, 

 Deccan, South India and Ceylon. Every where in flocks of thous- 

 ands on all the lakes, rivers, &c., especially in Sind. Mr. Hume {Sir. 

 F. i. p. 257) truly describes them " as occuring in countless myriads, seen 

 either massed upon the water, as huge rosy islands, or floating above 

 it like a sunset cloud in all the larger lakes of Sind. On taking 

 flight, the exposure of the rosy upper and under wing-coverts turns the 

 mass into a gigantic brilliant rosy scarf, waving to and fro in mighty 



