46 PLATALEID^. 



Sp Consp. Ar. ii. p. 147 (1855) ; Schl. Mns. Fays-Bas, Ciconife, 

 p. 21 (18(i4) ; Grmj, Hand-l.B. iii. p. 37, no. 10200 (1871) ; Swinh. 

 P. Z. S. 1871, p. 411 ; Tacz. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 258 

 (187(3); David k Oust. Ok. Chine, p. 451 (1877); Prjev. m 

 Rowleys Orn. Misc. iii. p. 51 (1877 : Dalai-nor ; Hoangho Valley) ; 

 Blakist. Sf Pri/er, Ibis, 1878, p. 223 (Japan) ; Seehohm, Ibis, 1879, 

 p. 27 (Japan) ; Stya7i, Ibis, 1891, pp. 327, 494 (Kiukiang ; 

 Shanghai). 

 Platalea leucerodia, Beichen. J.f. 0. 1877, p. 159 ; Fischer ^ Reichen. 

 J.f. 0. 1878, p. 248 (Osi-Tana) ; Fischer, J. f. O. 1885, p. 117 

 (Formosa Bay, Zanzibar) ; Hartwiy,J.f. O. 1878, p. 457 (Madeira) ; 

 Beichen. iiyst. Verz. Voy. Deutschl. p. 42 (1889) ; Brusina, Motr. 

 etc. {Orn. Croat.) p. 74 (1890) ; Beichen. Voy. Deutsch-Ost-Afr. 

 p. 56 (1889: resident ; coast ; Ugalla River ; Masai Steppe.s). 

 Platalea minor (e?v. pro P. major), Boyd. Consjx Av. Imp. Boss. 



p. 120 (1884). 

 Spoonbill, Buckley Sf Harim-Broion, Vertebr. Faun. Outer Hebrides, 

 p. 247 (1888: South Uist). 

 Adult male in hreeding-plvmage. Entirely white above and 

 below ; quills and tail-feathers also white ; a large nuchal crest of 

 pointed and drooping plumes ; on the fore-neck a shade of tawny 

 or cinnamon-buff : "bill deep slate-colour, irregularly barred with 

 black, and having a yellow patch on the underpart ; feet black ; 

 iris crimson" {G. E. tihelley). Total length 38 inches, culmen 8-1, 

 wing 14-9, tail 4-7, tarsus 5-7. 



Adult in winter plumage. Similar to the summer plumage, but 

 wanting the crest of drooping plumes : " bare face before the eye 

 flesh-colour or greenish yellow ; eyelid yellow " (yon Heuglin). 



Nestling. Covered with white down ; the throat and loral region 

 bare, as in the fully adult birds ; bUl yellow. 



Young. Entirely white above and below, but without any nuchal 

 crest ; primary-coverts and quills black-shafted, and the outer 

 primaries blackish along their outer webs and at their tips ; bill 

 yellow. A female killed by Major Bingham near Delhi, in March, 

 had the bill " pale inky black, mottled with yellow at the tip ; bare 

 skin of chin yellow ; feet and claws black ; iris red." 



Bab. Central and Southern Europe, east to Central Asia and 

 China; the Indian Peninsula ; Africa, on the East coast as far south 

 as Zanzibar. Everywhere local. Mr. Ogilvie Grant, in his excellent 

 paper on the genus Platalea, has fully discussed the question of the 

 relations of P. major and P. leucerodia, which he regards as Eastern 

 and Western races of the Common Spoonbill. Erom the measure- 

 ments which he has given, and which I have mostly adopted in the 

 list of specimens given below, there seems to me to be such an 

 absolute intergradation between the two, that I cannot separate 

 them specifically. 

 a Ad sestiv. st. England. Mr. J. Baker. 



[c. 7-5; t. 6-5]. 

 b Ad. sk. [c. 7'0 ; Devonshire. Montagu Coll. 



' t. 5-2]. 

 c. Bill [c. 7'0]. Piomney Marsh, Sept. Dr. Gordon Hogg 



