104 ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIOXES. 



" Other facts confirm me in tliat opinion. A common Spoonbill was kept tame by a friend of 

 mine seven years, at the end of which time it died without having acquired any of the distin- 

 guishing marks of P. cijaja. 



" I have dissected three examples of the latter species, and observed in them the curiously 

 formed trachea recently descrilieil by Mr. Garrod.^ I have shot perhaps a hundred specimens 

 of the common bird, for they are extremely abundant with us. Of these I have opened about 

 thirty, but in none of tl-em did I find this form of trachea. I am therefore convinced that 

 Ave have two distinct species of Rose-colored Spoonbill, inhabiting dift'erent portions of the 

 continent." 



The Roseate Spoonbill lias a wide distribution, occurring in favorable localities 

 throughout South America, Central America, Mexico, and tlie Gulf Region of the 

 United States, from Florida to the Mexican departments. Stragglers have been ob- 

 served even as far south as the Falkland Islands. Captain C. C. Abbott states that 

 a specimen of the Spoonbill was shot in a pond near Kidney Cove, in the Falkland 

 Islands, in July. ISGO ; and he also found the remains of another in Whalebone Bay, 

 in the same year. ])r. Burmeister speaks of this species as everywhere present in 

 the La Plata Region, throughout nearly the whole of which it was found frequenting 

 the reeds, on the shores of streams and lagoons. He always found it solitary, and 

 never noticed it in flocks. Mr. C. Barrington BroAvn mentions finding it common in 

 the inlets of the Cotinga River, in British Guiana. Mr. Salvin notices the pro- 

 curing of a single individual of this species in Guatemala. It had been shot by an 

 Indian on the borders of Lake Duenas. Mr. Salvin afterw'ard mentions having met 

 Avith it occasionally on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, wdiere, not unfrequently, a 

 small flock would fly across the creek, seldom within shot, but often near enough 

 to show their brilliant colors. This' species has not, that I am aware, been recorded 

 on the Pacific coast north of JMazatlan; but it is found in several of the West India 

 Islands, and according to Dr. Gundlach it breeds in Cuba. It was not met Avith by 

 Mr. Gosse in Jamaica, but is given by Mr. Richard Hill as a resident of that island ; 

 Mr. ]\Iarch, however, regards it as being of very rare occurrence there. It is given 

 by Leotaud as an occasional visitant to Trinidad, the birds seen there being always 

 in their immature plumage. Tliese visitants usually arrive about the end of June, 

 and leave in the month of October. It is abundant in Southwestern Texas and 

 along the Gulf coast of Mexico. Mr. Dresser speaks of it as common near Mata- 

 moras during the summer, and he never visited the lagoon near the toAvn without 

 seeing several. On his journey to San Antonio, in September, he saAV a number at 

 different places near the coast ; and in June, 1<S64, he saw two or three on Galveston 

 Island, Avhere it is known under the name of '' Flamingo." He Avas informed that, 

 in former years, it had been knoAvn to breed on the island, but that it does so no 

 longer, having been too much disturljed. He received a specimen in a collection 

 from Fort Stockton, Avhere it Avas obtained on the 3d of August. Occasionally this 

 species wanders up the creeks and rivers fioAving into the Gulf, and a specimen Avas 

 taken as high uj) on the Mississippi as Natchez. This was the locality of Wilsoii's 

 type of the species. That author, hoAvever, regarded this bird as rare in Florida, 

 Avliile ISTuttall thought it common in Jamaica; both these statements have, however, 

 proved to be incorrect. Xuttall records a straggler as having been taken on the 

 banks of the DelaAvare River ; but there is no recent record of such an occurrence. 



According to Dr. Berlandier (unpublished MSS.), the Roseate Spoonbill inhabits 

 almost all the eastern coast of Mexico. It is in winter quite common about the 

 lakes of Tampico, Tamiagua, the shores of Panonco, etc., advancing in the summer 



1 P. Z. S. 1875, p. 297. 



