462 



RED FLAMINGO. 



struction different from that of any other bird ; the upper man- 

 dible very thin and flat, and somewhat movable ; the under, 

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

 nostrils are linear, and placed in a blackish membrane ; the 

 end of the bill, as far as the bend, is black ; from thence to the 

 base, reddish yellow ; round the base, quite to the eye, covered 

 with a flesh-coloured cere : the neck is slender, and of a great 

 length ; the tongue, large, fleshy, filling the cavity of the bill, 

 furnished with twelve or more hooked papillse on each side, 

 turning backwards ; the tip, a sharp cartilaginous substance. 

 The bird, when in full plumage, is wholly of a most deep 

 scarlet (those of Africa said to be the deepest), except the 

 quills, which are black; from the base of the thigh to the 

 claws, measures thirty-two inches, of which the feathered part 

 takes up no more than three inches ; the bare part above the 

 knee, thirteen inches ; and from thence to the claws, sixteen ; 

 the colour of the bare parts is red, and the toes are furnished 

 with a web, as in the duck genus, but is deeply indented. 

 The legs are not straight, but slightly bent, the shin rather 

 projecting. 



" These birds do not gain their full plumage till the third 

 year. In the first, they are of a greyish white for the most 

 part; the second, of a clearer white, tinged with red, or rather 

 rose colour ; but the wings and scapulars are red ; in the third 

 year, a general glowing scarlet manifests itself throughout ; 

 the bill and legs also keep pace with the gradation of colour 

 in the plumage, these parts changing to their colours by de- 

 grees, as the bird approaches to an adult state. 



"Flamingoes prefer a warm climate ; in the old continent 

 not often met with beyond forty degrees north or south ; every- 

 where seen on the African coast and adjacent isles, quite 

 to the Cape of Good Hope,* and now and then on the coasts 

 of Spain,t Italy, and those of France lying on the Mediterra- 



* In Zee Coow river. — Philosophical Transactions. Once plenty in 

 the Isle of France. — Voyage to Mauritius, p. 66. 



t About Valencia, in the Lake Albufere. — Dillon's Travels, p. 374. 



