NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 19 



the pink colors have been paler and more restricted and the tails 

 have been pink instead of buff; however, these may be second 

 winter birds and adults may show very little seasonal change; but 

 material showing the postnuptial molt of adults is scarce. 



Food. — Audubon (1840) has described the feeding habits of this 

 species very well, as follows : 



They are as nocturnal as the night heron, and, although they seek for food at 

 times during the middle of the day, their principal feeding time is from near sunset 

 until ^ylight. To all such feeding grounds as are exposed to the tides, they be- 

 ■^"'' jmselves when it is low water, and search for food along the shallow margins 

 iven off bj^ the returning tide. Few birds are better aware of the hours 

 "i the waters are high or low, and when it is near ebb you see them 

 ■ '4^ their way to the shore. Whenever a feeding place seems to be produc- 

 L. iiie spoonbills are wont to return to it until they have been much disturbed, 

 and persons aware of this fact may waylay them with success, as at such times 

 on' ^ly shoot them while passing overhead. To procure their food, the spoon- 

 bills urst generally alight near the water, into which they then wade up to the 

 tibia, and immerse their bills in the water or soft mud, sometimes with the head 

 and even the whole neck beneath the surface. They frequently withdraw these 

 pari; however, and look around to ascertain if danger is near. They move their 

 partially opened mandibles laterally to and fro with a considerable degree of 

 elegance, munching the fry, insects, or small shellfish, which they secure, before 

 swallowing them. When there are many together, one usually acts as sentinel, 

 unless a heron should be near; and in either case you may despair of approaching 

 them. I have never seen one of these birds feeding in fresh water, although 1 

 have been told that this is sometimes the case. To all those keys in the Floridas, 

 in which ponds have been dug for the making of salt, they usually repair in the 

 evening for the purpose of feeding; but the shallow inlets in the great salt 

 marshes of our southern coasts are their favorite places of resort. 



N. B. Moore says in his notes that this species feeds in both salt 

 and fresh water and that he has found in the stomachs fishes, prawns 

 or shrimps, and coleopterous insects. 



There arc very little other data available as to the food of the 

 roseate spoonbill, but G. B. Benners (1887) says: 



I noticed one of these birds while feeding, and after it caught a fish it would 

 beat it against the water before swallowing it. This was done apparently for 

 the purpose of killing the fish. 



Behavior. — In flight the spoonbills show tlieir relationship to the 

 ibises; when flying in flocks they usually form in diagonal lines or in 

 wedge-shaped flocks, each bird a little behind and to one side of the 

 bird ahead of it, so as to take advantage of the aerial waves caused 

 by the advancing flock, after the manner of wild geese. The head 

 and neck are fully outstretched, with the bill pointing straight 

 forward, and the feet are extended backward under the tail and 

 projecting beyond it. The wings, which are large for the size of the 

 bird, beat the air steadily with rather slow, long strokes. I have 

 occasionally seen spoonbills set their wings and scale like ibises, but 



