502 PLATALEA. SPOONBILL. 



having two lateral coeca, these birds having none but a caput 

 coecum. The oesophagus and proventriculus are similar to 

 those of the Curlews ; the stomach has some resemblance to 

 that of a Heron, it having the muscular fasciculi similarly 

 disposed, but differs in being much thicker ; and the intes- 

 tines are much wider, and have thicker walls, than those of 

 the Herons. In short, the most direct affinity of Platalea is 

 to Ibis and Tantalus, while it approximates also to Numenius 

 and other Scolopacinse ; or, as I have elsewhere remarked, 

 " the compact form of the body, its great muscularity, the 

 form of the legs, the length and slenderness of the neck, 

 the form and bareness of the head (in one specimen at least), 

 and the elongation of the bill, especially when it is laterally 

 viewed, all indicate an affinity to the Tantali and Numenii. 

 But the Spoonbills are also allied in various degrees to the 

 Herons and even the Pelicaninse, which latter they resemble 

 in the bare gular sac especially ; so that they clearly present 

 one of those remarkable centres of radiation, demonstrative 

 of the absurdity of quinary and circular arrangements, 

 founded merely on a comparison of skins." 



It is very remarkable that the trachea differs greatly in 

 the two species known to me, it being in the American or 

 Roseate divided high up on the neck, the bronchi being 

 thus of extreme length; while in the European it is not 

 divided so high, but on reaching the furcula bends upon 

 itself, and then in entering the thorax divides. 



I have thought it necessary to make the above remarks 

 on the structure of the birds of this genus, because of the 

 erroneous ideas of affinity to which the arrangement of 

 writers ignorant of the subject give rise. 



