7//A" wiiirh: s/'ooN /;//./. 133 



It seems very strange that lairds should inoh rare 

 visitors in the: way thf;y do. Jealousy in the- matter 

 of th<'Ir food can hardly he the cause for such perse- 

 cution, as there is enough on Breydon flats, when 

 the tid(^ is c)ut, to k\cA (locks of Spoonbills in 

 addition to the birds which now feed there. I do 

 not think it would be difficult to establish a colony 

 of Spoonbills. y\nd talking of this jealousy, 1 re- 

 member a Gannet which had somehow got inland 

 pitching down on a large mill-pond near me, and 

 no sooner was he settled than the swans, ducks, 

 coots, and moorhens made a regular rush for him. 

 But thf^y did not have things all their own way, for 

 the Gannet fought well, and made .some of their 

 feathers fly before they succeeded in driving 

 him off. 



THE WHITE SPOONBILL. 



{J'/a(a/ea leucorodia.) 



Mali:. — The bill black, variegated with yellow or 

 grey ; a considerable portion of the expanded part of 

 the up[>er mandible yellow ; iris red. The throat, 

 bare, yellow ; crest feathers tinged with yellow, with 

 the exception of a buff-coloured patch on the lower 

 part of the neck and fore-part of the breast. The 

 rest of the plumage pure white, tinged at times with 

 pink ; legs and feet dusky. Length, from bill to tail, 

 thirty-two inches. 



r^MM.ALi:. — Similar to male, but the crest is smaller, 

 and there is less buff on the breast. 



