Order VI. FLAMINGOES.
ODONTOGLOSSÆ.
| Family 1. | FLAMINGOES. | Phœnicopteridæ. | 1 species. |
Flamingoes might be called long-legged Ducks. Their feet are webbed, and their bill is set with ridges, which serve as sieves or strainers, as do the 'gutters' on a Duck's bill. They are, however, wading birds and their webbed feet are of use in supporting them on the soft mud of shallow lagoons or bays where they search for the favorite food of small mollusks. In feeding the flat top of the bill is pressed into the mud when its tip points upward toward the bird's body. Flamingoes fly with the neck and legs stretched to the utmost presenting on the wing a picturesque, but by no means so graceful an appearance as do the Herons. Their voice is a vibrant honking like that of a Goose.
Order VII. HERONS, STORKS, IBISES, ETC.
HERODIONES.
| Family 1. | SPOONBILLS. | Plataleidæ | 1 species. |
| Family 2. | IBISES. | Ibididæ. | 3 species. |
| Family 3. | STORKS and WOOD IBISES. | Ciconiidæ. | 1 species. |
| Family 4. | BITTERNS, HERONS, ETC. | Ardhidæ. | 14 species, 3 subspecies. |
The Roseate Spoonbill was formerly a common bird in Florida and along the Gulf coast, but so many have been killed for their plumage that in the United States the species is now exceedingly rare except in the most remote parts of southern Florida.
Spoonbills build a rude nest of sticks in mangrove bushes or small trees and lay three to five whitish eggs speckled with shades of brown.
Ibises are usually found in flocks along the shore of lagoons, lakes, etc., or in marshy places. They fly with the neck outstretched and are generally silent. Their nests of reeds, weed stalks, etc., are sometimes placed in low bushes, at others in grassy marshes. The eggs number from three to five. They are plain blue in the Glossy Ibis, greenish white with chocolate markings, in the White Ibis.