14 PLATALEID*. 



It is reniaiicahle tiie partiality Spoonbills have for lireeding in company with Ibis ; Mr. 

 Hume in bis " Xests and Egf,'S of Indian Birds," records Platalca Icucovodia breeding on trees in 

 company with the Pelican Ibis (Tantalus Iciicoccpluilns ), also near colonies of the Shell Ibis 

 (A nasti'iiius pscitaus). 



Platibis flavipes. 



YELLOW-LEilGEU SPOONBILL. 



Plataha Jinvippii, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 10<J ; id., Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. V^l., pi. 49 (1848). 



PlalibU ftaviprt:, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 288 (18G.")) ; Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. 

 Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 51 (1898) ; id., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. 188 (1899). 



Adult m.\le. — Aljore and beloir jnire ivhiti.\ the f<:(ttlier^ mi, tin' lo'ver purtiun of tlu' fore-neck 

 eloiiyated, formini/ three well-ile fined pinnies ,' the apical piniinn of the outer irebs of the inneriiiost 

 secondaries disiutey rated, black ; fore part of head and nj/per part of throat bare, boutided around by 

 a iiarroic black line : npper mandible and basal side of lower iiiamiihle ijeJlon\ icilh narrow blackish 

 cross lines ; sjiatalale end of both npjur and lotrer ntandibh blackish; base of the latter lleshy-pink ; 

 legs and feet dull yellow, blackish between the scales; soles of feel greyish-black, t/teir nppier sides 

 blackish : iris yellowish-ivhite. Total length in the fiesh .j2 inches, loing 1(J, tail 7, billS'o, tarsus 5 'o. 



Adult fem.^le. — Similar in plnniage to t/ie male. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria. South .Australia. 



/T^HE range of the Yellow-legged Spoonbill is more restricted than that of the preceding 

 J- species, extending over the greater portion of the eastern half of the Australian continent. 

 Gould accurately describes and gives a beautiful figure of it in his folio edition of the " Birds of 

 Australia." It is somewhat remarkable, however, that among a number of living birds and 

 specimens in the flesh I have examined, only one agrees in ha\ing the dull yellowish legs, the 

 white plumes on the lower fore-neck, and the disintegrated black outer webs ot the inner 

 secondaries. In many examples, probably young birds, the legs and feet are grey or olive-grey. 

 Living birds at one time in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, proved, however, that the olive-grey 

 legs are retained long after they have otherwise attained maturity. 



New South Wales is the stronghold of this species, over which it is generally distributed 

 in favourable situations, except in the coastal districts, where it is of rare occurrence. The 

 late Mr. H. Newcombe presented a specimen in the flesh to the Trustees of the .\ustralian 

 Museum he had obtained at Botany, the only instance I have known of it being found near 

 Sydney. It frequents rush-covered swamps, margins of lagoons and river banks partially 

 overgrown with bushes, and is also partial to surface water in depressions of grassy flats, the 

 result of recent rain or a passing thunderstorm. Generally it is met with, except in the breeding 

 season, in small flocks of five or six, and often in company with the Pacific, or the White-fronted 

 Heron and the Straw-necked or White Ibis. On the Namoi River I met with it in November, 

 1896, fre(]uenting the tops of dead timber on the river banks, and occasionally on a dead tree 

 fallen into the water. In October, 1905, it was common on the Castlereagh River, both in the 

 dead timber surrounding a large dam near Woodside, and in shallow water out on the plains. 

 It is extremely shy and wary, and is difficalt to get within shooting range, except of course in 

 the breeding season. On Cobborah Station, Cobborah, New South Wales, in October, 1909, a 

 small flock used to frequent a rush-covered swamp about a mile from the homestead, a resort 

 also of Ibis and Herons. Here they spent their time stalking gracefully about the edge of the 



