ANASTOMATIN. 3389 
Bill black, (more or less mottled with yellowish undulations 
during the winter), ochry-yellow at the tip; irides blood-red; 
naked skin of face and gular skin orange-yellow ; legs black. 
Plumage pure white, with a patch of buffy-yellow on the upper 
part of the breast, extending up the sides towards the back ; the 
crest composed of long subulate and canaliculate feathers 
placed on the occiput. 
The young wants the crest, has the shafts of the quills and 
the tips of the primaries black, the naked orbits dingy-white, 
and bill dark ashy, soft and flexible. The patch of buff is 
said not to appear till the second or third year. 
The Spoonbill is more orless common throughout the region. 
It breeds in Sind during October and November in company ; 
the nests are large platforms, composed of sticks. The eggs, 
four or five in number, are elongated ovals in shape, a good 
deal pointed at one end; they are white in color, more or less 
spotted with brown or yellowish-brown. They measure 2°7 by 
181. 
SuB-FAMILY, Anastomatine. 
Bill very thick, stout, coarse, gaping in the middle. 
Genus, Anastomus, J/liger. 
Bill moderately long, not deeply cleft, very thick, solid, nearly 
straight ; mandibles nearly equal, not meeting in the middle, 
but leaving a greater or lesser space gaping ; upper mandible 
notched at the tip; nostrils basal, superior ; wings moderately 
long, with second or third quills longest, sub-equal ; tail moderate, 
nearly even; tibia naked for a considerable space; tarsi long, 
reticulated; feet rather short ; the front toes joimed at the base 
by web. 
Anastomus oscitans, Bodd. 
940.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 765 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. LV, p. 24; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 435; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 277; 
Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 136. 
THE SHELL I[BIs. 
Length, 29 to 32 ; expanse, 50 to 54; wing, 165 to 17; tail, 
7; tarsus, 5°5; bill at front, 6°25. 
Bill dull greenish, tinged with reddish beneath; nude orbits 
and gular skin blackish; irides grey or pale brown; legs pale 
fleshy. 
Gensel color of the plumage pale ashy-grey, tinged with 
reddish on the head and neck ; the winglet, primaries, secondaries, 
tertials, scapulars, and tail, black. 
The Shell Ibis occurs sparingly throughout the province; in 
most places it is only a cold weather visitant, but in Sind it 
breeds during August. The nests are platforms composed of 
