PLATALEA. 518 
Genus PLATALEA. 
The Genus Platalea was included by Linneus in 1766 in the twelfth 
edition of his ‘Systema Nature’ (i. p. 231), and the Common Spoonbill 
(the Platea platea of Brisson) is unquestionably the type. 
The birds in this genus are easily distinguished by the form of the bill, 
which is very broad, long, thin, and dilated at the extremity, like a spoon 
or spatule. Their tarsus is covered with fine reticulations all round; the 
face and throat are sometimes bare of feathers; the legs are long and 
rather slender ; the nostrils are subbasal and placed in a groove partly 
closed by a membrane ; the tail is short and even, and consists of twelve 
feathers. 
This genus contains only four or five species, which are distributed 
throughout the temperate and tropical portions of both hemispheres, 
with the exception of the smaller islands. One species is European, which is 
an accidental straggler to the British Islands. 
The Spoonbills frequent marshy coasts, large swamps, and the borders 
of lakes and streams, where they wade or walk about im search of the 
frogs, aquatic insects, worms, &c. on which they feed. - They are said to 
even dive or swim in search of food. They have no note, but make a 
snapping sound with their bill. Their flight is graceful and buoyant. 
They are shy and wary birds, and are ever on the look out for danger. 
They breed either on the ground or in trees in their marshy haunts, 
making a large nest of sticks and coarse aquatic vegetation ; and their eggs 
are dull white, sparingly spotted and blotched with reddish brown. 
VOL. II. 2 L 
