RED FLAMINGO. 
67 
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 ho.oked 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,f Italy, and those of France lying in the Mediterra- 
nean Sea; being, at times, met with at Marseilles, and for 
some way up the Rhone ; in some seasons frequents Aleppo, f 
and parts adjacent ; seen also on the Persian side of the Cas- 
* In Zee Coow river . — Philosophical Transactions. Onee plenty in the Isle 
of France — Voyage to Mauritius, p. 66. 
i* About Valencia, in the lake Albufere. — Dillon’s Travels, p, 374. 
t Russel’s Aleppo, p. 69. 
