168 
soft. Wings of moderate length, curved, acute, outer two quills longest, 
Tail short, of twelve or more feathers. Tongue fleshy, with a median 
groove, lateral reversed papillas, laminae, or bristles, and a semicircular thin 
horny tip ; oesophagus narrow, slightly enlarged at the lower part of the 
neck ; stomach a transversely elliptical gizzard, of which the lateral muscles 
are excessively developed, the epithelium dense, with two concave grinding 
surfaces ; intestine long and wide ; coecalong, cylindrical, contracted at the 
base. Trachea various, generally much enlarged at the bifurcation, without 
inferior laryngeal muscles, or only with the slips of the lateral muscles pro- 
longed. Nest generally on the ground; eggs numerous. Young clothed 
with stifflsh down, and able to walk*and swim from birth. 
Genus I. — PHCENICOPTERUS, Linn. FLAMINGO. 
Bill more than double the length of the head, straight and higher than 
broad for half its length, then deflected, and tapering to an obtuse point ; 
upper mandible with its dorsal line at first straight, then convex, and again 
straight nearly to the end, when it becomes convex at the tip, the ridge 
broad and concave, on the deflected part expanded into a lanceolate plate, 
having a shallow groove in the middle, and separated from the edges by a 
narrow groove, its extremity narrow and thin edged, but obtuse, this part 
being analogous to the unguis of Ducks; lower mandible narrower than the 
upper at its base, but much broader in the rest of its extent; its angle rather 
long, wide, and filled with bare skin ; its dorsal line concave, but at the tip 
convex, the ridge deeply depressed, there being a wide channel in its place, 
the sides nearly erect and a little convex, with six ridges on each side 
toward the tip. Both mandibles internally lamellate, the edge of the lower 
much incurved. Nostrils linear, direct, and sub-basal, operculate. Head 
small, ovate ; neck extremely elongated, and very slender ; body slender ; 
legs extremely long; tibia bare for more than half its length, and with the 
long tarsus anteriorly scutellate ; hind toe very small and elevated; anterior 
toes connected by emargiuate webs, scutellate above, tesselate beneath. 
Claws oblong, obtuse, depressed. Space between the bill and the eye bare ; 
plumage compact ; wings long, very broad, pointed ; second quill longest ; 
some of the secondaries extremely elongated, so as to extend far beyond the 
primaries when the wind is closed. Tail very short. Tongue confined by 
the lower mandible, fleshy, compressed, decurved, with recurved conical 
papillae ; oesophagus extremely narrow, but at the lower part of the neck 
