SPOON-BILLS. 



161 



fcathcrecl, except a stripe between the eye and the base of the bill. In that respect 

 they represent the ojiposite extreme to llie saereil ibis. 



The name of the spoonbills explains itself, and it is hardly necessary to refer to 

 the accompnnyinij: illu.stration, for no one who ever saw any of these large and beauti- 

 fnl birds with the singular beak mistook it for anything else. The Old World species 



f<|Ui-' 



Fio. 78. — Plalatea leucorodia, spoon-bilL 



(Pfatalea) are all nearly ])in-e white, while the American spoonbill (AJaJa ajaja) is 

 light rose-colored, with brilliant carmine wing-coverts. In their general habits, as in 

 their structure, the spoonbills nre only modified ibises. Like these they also fly with 

 outstrctclied necks, perch on trees, and also gener.ally breed in trees. Messrs. Sclater 

 and Forbes have demonstrated that, in certain localities at least, the spoonbill of 

 Europe, P. leucorodia, breeds on the ground among the reed-beds. In 1877 they vis- 



VOL. IV. —11 



