504 PLATALEA LEUCORODIA. 



obliged to take the folloAving description from a specimen 

 procured from Holland, where it is plentiful : — The body is 

 ovate, rather full and muscular ; the neck long and slender ; 

 the head ovate, flattened above and a little compressed. 

 The bill is about four times the length of the head, straight, 

 extremely flattened ; the upper mandible an inch and two- 

 twelfths in breadth at the base, gradually narrowed to nine- 

 twelfths, and enlarged at the end to two inches, forming 

 there an obovate plate ; the dorsal line descending to beyond 

 the nostrils, then straight, decurved at the tip, which is 

 obtuse and formed by a broad short unguis having several 

 prominent rugse ; the sides at the base transversely undu- 

 lated ; the margins as well as the terminal part of the plate 

 finely scrobiculate ; the lower mandible with the angle very 

 narrow, a groove from it to the tip, which is slightly 

 decurved ; the crura narrow, gradually flattened, the ex- 

 tremity forming an obovate plate. Internally, both man- 

 dibles are marked with fine ridges and grooves, which may 

 be said to be more or less parallel with the margins. On 

 the upper are two longitudinal series of obtuse protube- 

 rances, and the inner edge of the crura of the lower is 

 similarly marked. 



The nostrils are linear-oblong, six-twelfths in length, 

 sub-basal, vertical in the narrow grooves between the ridge 

 and sides. The eyes are small, three-and-a-half-twelfths in 

 width. The aperture of the ear is also small and roundish. 

 The legs are rather long, somewhat slender ; the tibia bare 

 for nearly half its length, and with the tarsus reticulated 

 with sub-hexagonal scales ; the toes rather long and slender ; 

 the first very slender, with twelve scutella ; the second con- 

 siderably shorter than the fourth, with twenty-two, the 

 third with thirty-six, the fourth with twenty-four scutella, 

 besides basal scales ; the anterior largely webbed. The 

 claws are small, little arched, tapering, much compressed, 

 rather blunted. 



The skin of the throat is bare to the length of two inches 

 and a quarter, forming a kind of sac, and from thence for 

 three inches more along a narrow space. The loral spaces, 

 circumference of the eyes, and narrow frontal margin are 



