GRALLATORES. 287 



Genus PL AT ALE A, Linnmis. 



Widely distributed indeed are the members of this strik- 

 ingly peculiar form ; besides inhabiting most of the countries 

 of the Old World, Spoonbills also occur in North and South 

 America. Only one species of the genus as now restricted is 

 found in Australia. 



Sp. 54L PLATALEA REGIA, Gould. 



Royal Spoonbill. 

 Platalea regia, Gould in Proc, of Zool. Soc, part v. p. 106. 



Platalea regia, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi. pi. 50. 



This fine species may be readily distinguished from the 

 Platalea leucorodia of Europe by the nudity of its face, 

 which even considerably beyond the eyes is entirely des- 

 titute of feathers, and is of the same black colour as the 

 bill ; in other respects — size and colouring of the plumage — 

 little difference exists between the two species. The fine 

 crest which adorns the head is, doubtless, only assumed during 

 the pairing and breeding season, as I have seen adult speci- 

 mens both with and without these feathers, and this is precisely 

 the case with the European bird. 



The Royal Spoonbill is tolerably common on the eastern 

 and northern coast of Australia, and I have been informed 

 that, although a rare visitant there, it has been killed within 

 the colony of New South Wales. All my specimens were 

 procured at Moreton Bay, and I have seen others from Port 

 Essington. In its habits and disposition it as closely assimi- 

 lates to its European prototype as it does in general appear- 

 ance, for, like that bird, it takes up its abode on the margin of 

 those marshy inlets of the sea that run for a considerable dis- 

 tance into the interior, and on the banks of rivers and lakes, 

 and feeds upon small-shelled mollusks, frogs, insects and the 



