102 



ALTRICIAL riRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 



The above characters, in addition fo those previously given, are sufficient to define this well- 

 marked genus. Only one species is known, the A. rosea, whose distribution is coextensive with 

 tropical and sub-tropical America. 



A. rosea. 



Ajaja rosea. 



THE ROSY SPOONBILL. 



Platca rosea, Briss. Orn. V. 1760, .356, pi. 30 (adult). 



Platalea ajaja, LiXN. S. N. ed. 10, 1758, 140, no. 2 (ex Sloane, Jam. II. 316 ; Marcgr. Ray) ; ed. 

 12, I. 1766, 231, no. 2 (based on Platca rosea, Biiiss. V. 356, t. 30. —P. incarnata, Sloane, 

 Jam. II. 316. —P. brasiliensis, Ajaja dicta, Marcgr. Bras. 204).— WiLS. Am. Orn. VII. 1813, 

 123, pi. 62 (young, third year). — Xutt. Man. II. 1834, 79. — Aud. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 188, 

 131 ; Synop. 1839, — ; Birds Am. VI. 1843, 72, pi. 362 (adult). — Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 

 1858, 686. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 501. — Coues, Key, 1872, — ; Check List, 1873, 

 no. 448. 



Plntca mcxicana (" Wili.oughby "), Ga.mb. Jour. Philad. Acad. I. 1849, 222 ("San Francisco"). 



Roseate Spoonbill, Penn. Arct. Zool. II. 1785, 440, no. 338. 



Ajaja rosea, Reich. "Nat. Syst. 16." — Ridgw. Nom. X. Am. B. 1881, no. 505. — Coues, Check 

 List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 653. 



Hab. The wIidIc of tropical and subtropical America, including the West Indies ; south to 

 the Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and Chili, north to the Southern United States.'^ 



* The present northern limit to its range in the United States is not known with precision. "We have 

 reliable information of its abundance less than twenty years since in the "American Bottoms," in Illinois, 

 below St. Louis ; but whether it now occurs there at all, we do not know. Its former occurrence on the 

 coast of California as far noitb as San Francisco, is asserted by Gambel (Jour. Phil. Ac. I. 1849, p. 222). 



