Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima. Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vii. p. 120.
Ardea candidissima, Bonap. Syn. p. 305.
Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 49.
Snowy Heron, Ardea candidissima, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 317; v. v. p. 606.
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.
377. 1. Phœnicopterus ruber, Linn. American Flamingo.
Plate CCCCXXXI. Male.
Bill yellow tinged with bright orange, at the end black; feet lake; plumage scarlet, excepting the ten primaries, and twenty of the secondaries, which are black.
Male, 451/2, 66.
Rather rare, and only during summer in the Florida Keys, and the western coast of Florida. Accidental as far as South Carolina. Constantly resident in Cuba.