Of fossil forms, Ibidopsis occurs in the Upper Eocene of England, Ibis and Ibidopodia, the latter of which connects the Ibises with the Storks, in the Miocene of France, Ibis also in that of Bavaria, Protibis in that of Patagonia, Platalea in the Queensland drifts.
Fams. X.-XI. The Sub-Order Phoenicopteri, including the Phoenicopteridae or Flamingos and the extinct Palaelodidae, stands midway between the Storks and the Geese, having been on that account termed Amphimorphae by Huxley, a term equivalent to the Odontoglossae of Nitzsch. The extraordinary Flamingos have very long slender necks and unwieldy-looking bills, high at the base and abruptly bent down in the middle, the maxilla being highly movable and in some cases smaller than the nearly immovable grooved mandible–a condition of affairs seldom found elsewhere, and correlated with the peculiar method of feeding. As in the Anseres, the beak–which is short and straight in the young–is covered with a soft membrane, and ends in a black nail-like process rich in nerves, the margins being furnished in the adult with horny lamellae. The legs are unusually long, with nearly bare tibiae and laterally compressed metatarsi, covered with broad scutes which become smaller posteriorly; the hallux is absent or somewhat elevated and reduced, while the short anterior toes are fully webbed and have flat stunted claws. The wing is fairly long, with twelve primaries and about twenty-two secondaries; the tail is even, with fourteen small weak rectrices. The furcula is U-shaped, the nostrils are pervious, the tongue is thick, an aftershaft is present, and the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial.
Fig. 31.–Flamingo. Phoenicopterus roseus. × 1⁄11.
Phoenicopterus ruber, ranging from Florida to Pará and the Galápagos, is light vermilion with brighter wing-coverts, the yellowish bill having a black tip and the feet being red; the other forms are rosy-white with the coverts scarlet, while all have black remiges; the naked orbits and lores vary from rose-coloured to yellow, P. minor, P. andinus, and P. jamesi having feathered chins. P. roseus, recorded thrice from Britain and several times from North Germany, while extending from Central Europe, the Canaries, and Cape Verds to the whole of Africa, Lake Baikal, India, and Ceylon, has red feet and a pink bill with black tip; P. chilensis, of America south of Central Peru, Uruguay, and perhaps Brazil, has green-grey metatarsi with red joints, the black on the bill reaching above the bend; P. (Phoeniconaias) minor, of the Ethiopian Region, Madagascar, and North-West India, is very like P. roseus. P. (Phoenicoparrus) andinus, of the Andes of Bolivia, Chili, and Argentina–the largest species of the Family–and P. jamesi, of South Peru and Chili, lack the hallux, and have the base of the bill yellow and the middle red, with yellow and red feet respectively.
The young are chiefly greyish- or buffish-white, with brown or black markings, rarely seen beneath, and duller naked parts; the adults are uniformly downy, the nestlings white and woolly.
Flamingos are shy birds, sometimes found singly, but usually in immense flocks, which fly gracefully in V-shaped formations with alternate flapping and gliding motion, or circle around with outstretched neck and legs after rising with some difficulty. They spend their time chiefly in wading, the gait being slow and stiff; yet they can swim on occasion, and give evidence of their Anserine affinity by loud harsh cries, much resembling the gaggling of Geese, and by their helpless state in late summer, due to the loss of the flight-feathers. Very curious is their method of feeding, the head being completely inverted and directed backwards, as they tramp about in the shallows and seek for the aquatic herbage, frogs, crustaceans, molluscs, and so forth, which constitute their food, the lamellae of the bill acting as a sifting apparatus. The breeding colonies are situated on some lake, salt lagoon, or "marisma" of little depth, with bare shores, the conical or cylindrical mud nests being slightly hollowed at the top and varying in height from two to fifteen inches according to the amount of water. Several hundred individuals commonly breed together, though they not infrequently change their quarters annually; they are said to fashion the nest with their feet, and lay one or two eggs with bluish shell and chalky incrustation, incubation lasting four weeks or more. Mr. Abel Chapman,[[101]] Sir Henry Blake,[[102]] and Mr. Maynard[[103]] have shewn that the bird sits with her legs doubled under her, and her head directed forwards, though reliable persons have asserted that the feet hung down, and Dampier (prior to 1683) alleged that the parent stood erect and covered the structure with her rump. Eggs are often dropped promiscuously by the hen. The young run from the shell, and even when fully grown can be driven in flocks by intending captors.
Of extinct forms the allied Agnopterus occurs in the Upper Eocene of France and possibly of England; Helornis, with somewhat shorter bones, in the Lower Miocene of France and the transition beds of the two formations, as well as the Middle Miocene of Germany; and several species of Phoenicopterus, in the French Lower Miocene, the Pliocene of Oregon, and the Mare aux Songes in Mauritius. Lastly, there are five species of Palaelodus, constituting the family Palaelodidae,[[104]] in which the bill was probably straight, and the tibia and metatarsus were much shorter than in Phoenicopterus, but the toes longer. They are found in lacustrine deposits of the French Lower Miocene and the German Middle Miocene, while remains resembling them, to which the name Scaniornis has been given, are met with in the Chalk of South Sweden.[[105]]
Order VI. ANSERIFORMES.
The Order Anseriformes consists of the Sub-Orders Palamedeae and Anseres, each containing a single Family, Palamedeidae and Anatidae respectively. Lying between the Ciconiiformes and the Falconiformes, the connexion of this group with the former is much the most easily recognised, as it shows decided affinities to the Phoenicopteri, while between the Anseres and the Birds of Prey there occurs one of those gaps common to every linear system of classification. All the members agree in having the furcula U-shaped and the nostrils pervious. The large spiral penis is unique among the Carinatae, though comparable with that of the Ratitae. The down is uniformly distributed in both adults and nestlings, the aftershaft is rudimentary or absent, the tongue is thick and fleshy, and has bristly sides in the Anatidae; while the possession of two pairs of sterno-tracheal muscles is a marked point of distinction from other Carinate Birds. All the species are aquatic, and live almost entirely on vegetable matter. The young leave the nest within a few days, or even hours.