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Show 400 AVES. lives are passed in ponds and marshes. Thei~ polished pl~mage is not Jess adapted to this kind of life than theu· conformation, and these birds establish an evident link between the order of the GraJ. Iatorire and that of the Palmipedes. There is but one in Europe, F. atra, F. aterrima, and F. rethiops, Gm.; La Foulque, En!. 197, Frisch. 208, Naum. 30, f. 40. (The Coot.) The shield or a deep slate colour; edge of the wings whitish; in the nuptial season the shield becomes red: found wherever tbere is a pond.(1) We will terminate this sketch of the Grallatorire with three genera, which it is difficult to associate with any other, and which may be considered as forming separately so many small families. CHIONis, Foster.-VAGINALis, Lath. Or the Sheath-Bills. Their legs are short, almost like those of the Gallinacere • their tarsi scutellatecl, their bill stout and conical, hav· inga hard s'u bstance enveloping its base, which, it appears, the bt.r d has the power of raising and depressing. Only one species is known, and that is ft·om New Holland, Vag. Chionis, Lath. III, pl. 89, Chionis necrophaga, Vieill. Gal. 258. It is the size of a Partridge, with entirely white plumage. It haunts the sea-coast, where it feeds on the dead animals thrown up by the waves. , GLAREOLA. The beak of the Pratincoles is short, conical, arcuated throughout, has a large opening, and resembles that of the Gallinace<e. Their excessively long and pointed wings remind us of the Swallows,(2) or of the Palmi pedes of the high seas; their legs are of a moderate length their tarsi scutellated, and their external toes somewhat pal· mated;' their thumb touches the ground. Aquati•c worms an d m· sec ts constitute their food. The European species, . Glar. aust1·iaca, Enl. 882; Glar. pratincola, Leach, L~n. Trans., XIII, pl. xii; Naum., 29, F. 59, is brown above, whtte beneath and on the rump· a black circle round the throat; feet and base of the beak, redd' i• sh. It appears to be 1c ounc1 1·n all the north of the eastern continent.(3) (1) Add the Coot of Madagascar (Ful. cristata, Gm.) Enl. 797; Vieill. Gal. 269· Add also F. americana, Gm.; Wils. IX, pl. lxxiii, f. 1. .11m. Ed. . do (2) Linnceus (Edit. XII) even placed the common species in the genus Ibrun ' under the name of Hir. pratincola. · (3) Glareola na:via, Gm., is the young of the common species. See Leacll, LlO· GRALL A TORI.£. 401 Our last genus will be that of PHCENICOPTERus, Lin. Or the Flamingos, one of the most extraordinary and insulated of all birds. The legs are excessively long; the three anterior toes are palmated to their ends, and that of the hind one is extremely short; the neck, quite as long and slender as the legs, and their small head furnished with a beak whose lower mandible is an oval longitudinally bent into a semi-cylindrical canal, while the upper one, oblong and flat, is bent crosswise in its middle, so as to join the other exactly. The membranous fossre of the nostrils occupy nearly all the side of the part which is behind the transverse fold, and the nostrils themselves are longitudinal slits in the base of the fossre. The edges of the two mandibles are furnished with small, and very delicate transverse laminre, which, with the fleshy thickness of the tougue, creates some affinity between them and the Ducks. Were it not for the length of their tarsi, and the nudity of their legs, we might even place them among the Palmipedcs. They feed on shell fish, insects, and the spawn of fishes, which they capture by means of their long neck, turning the head on one side to give more effect to the hook of the upper mandible. They construct their nest of earth in marshes, placing themselves astride of it to hatch their eggs, a position to which they are forced to resort, by the length of their legs. The species known, Ph. ruber, Enl. 68 (The Red Flamingo), is from three to four feet in height; ash coloured, with brown streaks, dul'ing the first year; in the second there is a rosy hue on the wings, and in the third it acquires a permanent purple-red on the back, and rose-coloured wings. The quills of the wing are black; the beak yellow, with a black tip, and the' feet brown. This species is found in all parts of the eastern continent below 40°. Numerous flocks are seen on the southern coast of France, and they sometimes ascend as far as the Rhine. M. Temminck thinks that the American Flamingo, which is altogether of a bright red, Wils. VIII, 66, and Catesb. 73, is a different species from that of Europe. ( 1) Trans. XIII, pl. xii, f. 2. Add Glar. australis, Leach, loc. cit. pl. xiv, or Glar. i«Wella, Vieill. Gal. 263;-Glar. mie:ntalis, Leach, XIIT;-Glar. lactea, Tern. Col. 399. (1) M:. Temminck has positively ascertained that the Flamingo of America is different from that of Europe. The latter he calls Pham. antiquurum, but the American species Ph. ruher. .11m. Ed. VoL. 1.-3 A |
