366 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 



somewhat elongated. Plumage white ; the external quills and 

 shafts of most of the rectrices being black. Legs purplish black. 

 I rides yellowish brown. 



(4.) Platalea, S (paired with the foregoing, and shot same 

 date). Length 31-5 in. ; wing 14*2 ; tail 5, of 12 equal feathers ; 

 bill, to base of frontal feathers, 7*8 ; bare tibia 3*5 ; tarse 5 ; 

 middle toe and claw 3'5. Bill slate-colour, transversely barred 

 with black, the bars broken and disconnected on the spatule ; 

 apical edge black, succeeded by a patch and scattered spots 

 of orange-ochre over the spatule, which is also freckled with 

 light slate- colour. Inside of mouth deep indigo-black. Inside 

 of nostrils ochreous. Sides of upper and lower mandibles deeply 

 corrugated transversely, the corrugse being black ; inner edge 

 of lower mandible with roundish corrugse, like flattened tubercles. 

 Bare face-skin black, with a bright yellow-ochre patch before the 

 eye, extending over the under lid and in a thin line over the upper 

 lid. Occipital crest long, but not fully developed, being still 

 partially in quill. Entire plumage pure white. Legs purplish 

 black, rather darker than in (3). Irides blood-red. 



Now it will be observed that in both pairs the female was the 

 most undeveloped bird. Must we suppose that in each case she 

 was the younger, and that either the male, having but his 

 first mate, was obliged to put up with a junior in age, or that 

 Spoonbill bachelors are partial to females younger than them- 

 selves ? On the contrary, it strikes me that Spoonbills, like 

 Orioles and many other land-birds, and probably also many 

 water-birds, are slower in the development of the female than in 

 that of the male. The autumnal plumage of the young male in 

 his first year would doubtless be that of the female (1). By the 

 "lose of winter he would have developed to the stage in which 

 we found him (2), while the female still retained her first garb (1). 

 In the spring of the second year we find the female advanced to 

 the appearance of the male of the first spring (3), and the male 

 fully developed (4). In the third spring the female would 

 probably have a corrugated bill, and be almost or quite identical 

 with the old male. At least, there appear to be no valid reasons 

 why we should doubt of her ever arriving to the same stage of 

 development as the male. 



