45 
RED FLAMINGO. 
FHOEJVICOPTESUS RUBER. 
[Plate LXVL— Fig. 4.] 
Gmel. Syst, I, p. 612. — Le Flamant., Briss. VI, p. 532, pi. 47, Jig, 1.— Buff, VIII, p, 
475, pi. 39. PL Enl. 63. — Lath. Syn, III, p. 299, pi. 93. — Ind. Orn. p. 788. — Arct. 
ZooLNo. 422. — Catesby, I,/)/. 73, 74. — Temm. Man, cPOrn. p. 587. — Peale’s Mu- 
seum, No. 3545, bird of the first year; No. 3546, bird of the second year. 
THIS very singular species being occasionally seen on the 
southern frontiers of the United States, and on the peninsula of 
East Florida, where it is more common, has a claim to a niche in 
our Ornithological Museum, although the author regrets that from 
personal observation he can add nothing to the particulars of its 
history, already fully detailed in various European works. From 
the most respectable of these, the Synopsis of Dr. Latham, he has 
collected such particulars as appear authentic and interesting. 
“ This remarkable bird has the neck and legs in a greater dis- 
proportion than any other bird, the length from the end of the bill 
to that of the tail is four feet two or three inches, but to the end 
of the claws measures sometimes more than six feet. The bill is 
four inches and a quarter long, and of a construction different from 
that of any other bird ; the upper mandible very thin and flat, and 
somewhat moveable ; the under thick, both of them bending down- 
wards 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 colored 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 papillae on each side, 
turning backwards ; the tip a sharp cartilaginous substance. The 
M 
VOL. VIII. 
