PLATALEID.E — THE SPOONBILLS — AJAJA. 



103 



Sp. Char. Adult : Head entirely bare. Neck, back, and Ijreast, white ; tail orange-buff, the 

 shafts of the feathers deep pink, the inner Avebs inclining to pale pink. Rest of the plumage pale 

 rose-pink, the lesser wing-coverts' region, and upper and lower tail-coverts, brilliant, intense car- 

 mine. Jugulum with a tuft of light carmine, somewhat twisted, or curled, narrow plumes. Sides 

 of the breast, at base of the wings (concealed by the latter), pale creamy buff. "Bill yellowish 

 gray at the base, mottled with brownish black, in the rest of its extent pale greenish blue, lifht on 

 the margins ; base of margin of lower mandible greenish yellow ; iris bright carmine ; feet pale 

 lake ; claws brownish Ijlack ; head yellowish green ; space arquud the eye and the gular sac 



^^Mi^ 



orpiment-orange ; a band of black from the lower mandible to the occiput" (Audubon). Imma- 

 ture : Like the adult, but lacking the In-illiant carmine of the lesser wing-coverts' region, tail- 

 coverts, etc., these portions being pale peach-blossom pink. Tail delicate peach-lilossom pink, 

 instead of orange-buff. Nuchal and pectoral colored tufts absent. Young : Head completely feath- 

 ered, except immediately around the base of the bill. Head, neck, back, and anterior lower parts 

 white, in some specimens more or less tinged, especially above,^ with orange-buff ; wings, tail, and 

 posterior part of the body delicate pale peach-blossom pink, the shafts of the remiges and rectrices 

 deeper pink. Outer webs of alulfe, outer primary-coveYts, and wide borders to outer primaries 

 (principally on outer webs), clear snuff -brown. 



[Note. — "We have not seen the young in down, nor when first feathered. The latter is 

 described by Audubon as follows : — " The young, . . . when able to fly, . . . are grayish white. 

 The bill is then quite smooth, of a yellowish-green color, as are the legs and feet, as well as the 

 skin on part of the head. Young birds in their second year have the wings and the lower wing- 

 coverts of a pale roseate tint, the bill more richly colored, and the legs and feet dark brownish red 

 or purplish. At this age they are unadorned with the curling feathers on the breast ; but in the 

 third spring the bird is perfect, although it increases in size for several sea.sons after."] 



Length, aliout 28.00-31.00; expanse, 48.00-53.00; wing, 14,10-15.30; tail, 4.20-5.20; cul- 

 men, 6.20-7.15 ; width of bill, 2.00-2.20 ; tarsus, 3.75-4.65 ; middle toe, 2.95-3.35 ; bare portion 

 of tibia, 2.80-3.20. 



All the American Spoonbills examined by us appear to belong to a single species. Mr. W. H. 

 Hudson, however, who resided for a number of years in Buenos Ayres, entertained the belief tliat 

 there are two species of Spoonbills in that country ; and, without at all sharing in this belief, we 

 submit his arguments in its favor, as follows : — 



" In reference to the Rose-colored Spoonbills of America, I believe ornithologists have been 

 mistaken in referring them all to one species. 



" Whether two or only one species existed was a moot question a century ago ; it has been 

 decided that there is but one, the Platalea ajaja, and that the paler-plumaged birds, with feathered 

 heads and black eyes, and without the bright wing-spots, the tuft on the breast, horny excrescences 

 on the beak, and other marks, are only immature Inrds. Now it is quite possilde the young of 

 P. ajaja resembles the common Rose-colored Spoonbill of Buenos Ayres ; but in that country, for 

 one bird with all the characteristic marks of an adult P. ajaja, we meet with not less, I am sure, 

 than two or three hundred examples of the paler bird without any trace of such marks. 



" This fact of itself might incline one to believe that there are two distinct species, and that the 

 common Platalea of Buenos Ayres inhabits the temperate regions south of the range of the true 

 P. ajaja. 



1 Qu. An accidental stain ? 



