SPOONBILL. 515 
north of lat. 48°; but it is a regular summer visitor to the southern 
portions of Dauria and the valley of the Amoor, breeding also in South- 
east Mongolia, and occasionally occurring in various parts of China 
and Japan*. It is an accidental visitor to the Azores, Madeira, and the 
Canaries, and is a resident throughout North Africa as far south as the 
Soudan. In Greece, Asia Minor, and Palestine it is principally known as 
passing through on migration. It is arvare bird in Persia; but breeds 
throughout India and Ceylon. The Spoonbill has several near allies in 
South Africa, Australia, and America, all of which may be distinguished 
by having the face bare of feathers. 
The migration of the Spoonbill into Europe from Africa commences at 
Tangiers in March; it arrives in South Spain in the middle of April, but 
does not reach its breeding-grounds in Holland and the valley of the 
Danube till early in May. Its arrival in the east of Europe is at about the 
same date as in the west. It leaves its breeding-grounds in Holland in 
September, and has been observed at Gibraltar as late as November. 
The Spoonbill frequents open swamps and low-lying ground near 
the sea, rather than the centre of dense reed-beds and rush-covered 
marshes. It may sometimes be seen in swampy meadows, in similar 
localities to those the White Stork loves to frequent. It walks about 
slowly and sedately, and when alarmed often flies to a tall tree, where, 
perched perhaps on the topmost bough, it is a very conspicuous object 
for a great distance. It is very fond of frequenting mud-flats, searching 
them with its peculiar bill for food. It is rather shy, and seldom 
allows the observer to approach it very closely. The food of the Spoon- 
bill is very largely composed of crustaceans, mollusks, and small insects, 
which it catches in its broad bill, using it in the same manner that a Duck 
does. To this fare is added small fish, frogs, and quantities of vegetable 
matter, such as the buds and leaves of water-plants and probably grass. 
The Spoonbill does not appear to ever utter any note, beyond making a 
sharp snapping sound with its bill. It does not possess any true muscles 
* Temminck and Schlegel described two supposed new species of Spoonbill from Japan. 
An adult male collected by Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi in April belongs to the European 
species, of which Platalea major of Temminck is undoubtedly a young bird, the primaries 
not having yet been moulted. In a paper on the ornithology of Japan (‘ Ibis,’ 1882, 
p- 370), I made the mistake of identifying Swinhoe’s examples from Formosa with this 
species; they belong undoubtedly to P. minor of Temminck, which species is founded 
on immature examples of the previously described P. regia from Australia. This species 
differs from our bird in being slightly smaller, in having the bare space on the forehead and 
sides of the head extending to the eye, and in having the gular pouch feathered to the 
base of the lower mandible, beyond which the chin is black. The signs of immaturity 
are the same as in the Common Spoonbill. By an unaccountable oversight, Dresser, in 
his ‘ Birds of Europe,’ has omitted any mention of the immature stage of plumage, though 
it is described and figured by Naumann. 
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