AVES. 
250 
We terminate this series of Stilt-birds by three genera, which it is difficult to associate with ill 
any others, and which may be considered as each forming a separate family. ' 
y 
The Sheathbills {Chionis, Forster) — 
Have short toes, nearly as in the Poultry, the tarsi scutellated, the beak thick and conical, and i 
enveloped at base by a hard substance, which, it appears, the bird has the power of raising and ; 
depressing. |] 
We are acquainted with only one species, from New Holland {Ch. necropTiaga, Vieillot), the size of a [large] j 
Partridge, and entirely white. It frequents the sea shore, and feeds on dead animal matter thrown up by the , 
tide. [Prof. Blainville has lately shown that this remarkable bird approaches very near to the Oyster-catchers in 
its whole anatomy, and the affinity is discernible on comparison of their external characters. fj 
Apparently allied are | | 
The Attagens {Attagis, d’Orb.), — I ji 
The uncompressed bill of which nearly resembles that of a Poultry-bird, and the plumage is not unlikef 
the immature dress of a Lark : wings and feet as in Chionis. p 
Several species inhabit the Cordilleras of the Andes, varying in size from that of a Partridge to less than* T 
a Lark. The smaller constitute the of Vieillot.] 4 ? 
The Pratincoles {Glareola, Gmelin) — 1 ! 
Have a short, conical beak, arcuated throughout, and resembling that of a Poultry-bird. The wings 
excessively long and pointed, and tail often forked, producing the flight of a Swallow or Petrel. The j| 
legs are of mean length, the tarsi scutellated, the external toes a little palmated, and thumb reaching 
to the ground ; [middle claw furnished with an obtusely serrated inner edge]. They fly in troops, and H 
cry about the borders of water, subsisting on aquatic insects and worms. [Their sternal apparatus and | 
anatomy intimate their position to be among the Snipes and Plovers.] ; 
The European species {Gl. torquata) is brown above, white below and on the croup ; the gorget encircled with a 
black marking ; and base of the bill and feet reddish. It appears to inhabit the north of the whole ancient world. 
Our last genus consists of 
The Flamingoes (Phcenicopterus, Lin.), — 
Which are among the most extraordinary and isolated of birds, [being, in fact, an extreme modification 
of the Lamellirostral type, that is, of the Duck tribe, with inordinately elongated neck and legs]. Their 
legs, of excessive length, have their front toes palmated to the ends, and an extremely short hind- 
toe ; the neck is equally long and slender with the legs, and their small head is furnished with a bill 
the inferior mandible of which is of an oval form, longitudinally bent into a semicylindrical canal, 
while the upper one, oblong and flat, is bent crosswise in the middle, so as to join the other exactly. 
The membranous groove of the nostrils occupies nearly the whole side of that part which is behind 
the sudden bend of the mandibles, and the nostrils themselves form a longitudinal slit at the base of 
the groove. The edges of the two mandibles are furnished with small and very fine transverse 
laminae, which, together with the fleshy thickness of the tongue, imports some relationship with the 
Ducks. We might even place the Flamingoes among the Palmipedes, were it not for the length of 
their tarsi, and the nudity of part of the tibia, [an objection which would equally apply to the Gulls ! 
and Petrels]. They feed on Testaceans, Insects, and the spawn of Fishes, which they seize by means 
of their long neck, reverting the head to employ with advantage the crook of the upper mandible. 
They construct their nest of earth in marshy situations, placing themselves astride of it [ .^ ] during thel 
act of incubation, in consequence of the extreme length of their legs incapacitating them from sitting‘1 
in the usual manner. [The digestive organs resemble those of the Ducks with unlobated hind-toe ; 
having even the crop, or distension of the oesophagus, which occurs in no species strictly belonging to 
the division of Stilt-birds.] 
The common species {Ph. ruber) stands from three to four feet in height, and is ash-coloured, with brown 
streaks, during the first year ; in the second there is a roseate hue on the wings, and in the third it assumes a 
purple red on the back, and rose-coloured wings. This species is found in all parts of the eastern continent below 
40 degrees. Numerous flocks are seen every year on the southern coasts of Europe, and they sometimes ascend 
as far as the Rhine. 
M. Temminck thinks [and has since definitively ascertained] that the American Flamingo is distinct ; besides 
which, there is a small species on that continent {Ph. minor, Vieillot) of which the Pigmy Flamingo of Temminck 
is the young. 
