COLLECTION OF BIRDS. 3yC) 



more particularly in Sicily, others in southern 

 Africa, the East Indies, New Holland, and South 

 America. Next to the porphyrions are the 

 coots, whose feet are furnished with den- 

 tate d membranes ; their flesh is esteemed. By 

 the side of the coots is a very rare bird which 

 forms a genus by itself under the name of the 

 scabbard-beak (vaginalis , Lath.), on account of 

 the singular form of its beak, the base of which 

 is encircled by a horny substance. We are per- 

 fectly ignorant of the habits of this bird, which 

 is found in the Malouin islands, whence it was 

 brought by the naturalists attached to M. Frey- 

 cinct's expedition. The lower part of this case 

 is occupied by the flamingos (phoenicopterus), 

 remarkable for the excessive length of their legs 

 and neck, and the curious shape of their beak: 

 they live in troops on marshes and sea-shores ; 

 they sometimes undertake long voyages ; they 

 feed on shell-fish, insects and fish-spawn ; they 

 build a pyramidal nest elevated above the water, 

 and place themselves astride upon it to hatch 

 their eggs. The European species, when adult, 

 is white with rose-coloured wings ; when young 

 it is entirely grey. That of America has a scarlet 

 plumage, but the young ones are grey, spotted 

 with black. 



We here terminate the grallce, and proceed to 



