IV IBIDIDAE 103 
being most plentiful on the Upper Nile, though wandering to 
the Persian Gulf, Egypt, and Algeria. The bare head and neck, 
the bill, feet, and tips of the primaries are black; the decom- 
posed inner secondaries and scapulars, which in summer curve 
gracefully over the hinder parts, are iridescent black, the re- 
mainder of the plumage is white. JZ. bernieri of Madagascar, 
and probably Aldabra Island, has white primaries, as has /. mela- 
nocephala, ranging from India and Java to Japan. The latter, 
moreover, develops in the breeding season a ruff of long plumes 
on the fore-neck, similar to that of Z molucea of Australia, 
Papuasia, and Ceram, which is distinguished by ten pink bars 
crossing the occiput and nape, and pink spots on the crown. 
The sexes are similar, but young [bises are comparatively dull, 
and have feathered heads and necks, while crests and ornamental 
plumes are generally absent. In immature examples of 7bis and 
elsewhere the head and neck are black and white, in Nipponia 
the plumage is apparently grey, in Hudocimus chiefly brown. 
Sub-fam. 2. Plataleinae.—Spoonbills are shy gregarious birds, 
frequenting creeks of the sea or marshes, where they may be seen 
wading ankle-deep in water, hunting for the fish, frogs, crus- 
taceans, molluscs, beetles, and insect-larvae on which they live, or 
searching the ground in drier spots. They walk sedately, and fly 
with easy flapping action and outstretched head and legs, now and 
then rising spirally to float aloft; while swimming, perching, or 
standing on one leg are ordinary habits. In feeding, the beak is 
moved from side to side in semicircular fashion, the body acting 
in unison. There are no true vocal muscles, the voice being a 
harsh quack or deep Heron-like note; but a clattering of the bill 
is heard at times, less noisy than in Storks. The nest, when in 
reed-beds, is a mass of twigs, flags, and the lke, placed on the 
ground or on low bushes; but it is commonly a large platform of 
sticks in a tree, the three to five roughish eggs being dull white 
with red-brown spotting. Colonies are nearly always formed. 
Platalea leucorodia, the Spoonbill, which once bred regularly 
in England, ranges over Central and Southern Europe and 
Northern Africa, to Central Asia, Ceylon, and China; P. regia in- 
habits Australia, and probably Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, and 
New Guinea, straying also to New Zealand; P. minor occurs 
in China, Corea, Japan, and Formosa; P. a/ba in the Ethiopian 
Region with Madagascar. The plumage is white, with bare lores 
