Bill of moderate length, stout, straight, depressed toward the end,
obtuse, covered with soft skin; upper mandible transversely convex,
with the margins internally lamellate, the tip furnished with a
decurved horny broad unguis; lower mandible with the angle long and
narrow, the crura slender, flattened, the edges internally lamellate,
the tip a flattened unguis. Nostrils elliptical, open, subbasal. Head
of moderate size; neck long or of moderate length, slender; body full;
legs generally short, stout, with little of the tibia bare; tarsus
scutellate; toes four, first small; anterior three palmate. Claws
moderate, arched, compressed, obtuse. Plumage very full, dense, 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 papillæ, laminæ, or bristles, and a
semicircular thin horny tip; œsophagus 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;
cœca long, 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 prolonged. Nest
generally on the ground; eggs numerous. Young clothed with stiffish
down, and able to walk and swim from birth.
GENUS I. PHŒNICOPTERUS, 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
subbasal, 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
emarginate 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 wing is closed. Tail very short. Tongue confined by
the lower mandible, fleshy, compressed, decurved, with recurved
conical papillæ; œsophagus extremely narrow, but at the lower part
of the neck enlarged into a crop; proventriculus elliptical; stomach a
very muscular, transversely elliptical gizzard, exactly resembling
that of a goose or duck, with the epithelium dense, and longitudinally
sulcate; intestine very long, and of considerable width; cœca
rather long; cloaca globular.