THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 93 



guished from the adults by their grayish brown backs, and grayish 

 heads and necks. The white ibis measures from 565 to 700 mm. 

 in length. 



Subfamily Plataleinae 



AJAIA A.TAJ A (Linnaeus) 

 ROSEATE SPOONBILL, CUCHARETA, SPATULE 



Platalea ajaja Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., ed.10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 140 (Brazil). 



Spoon-bill, Saint-Mery, Descript. Span. Part Saint-Domingo, vol. 1, 1798, 

 p. 306 (Dominican Republic, mentioned). 



Spa rule, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois., vol. 7, 1780, p. 460 (" Saint-Domingue ").— 

 Descourtilz, Voy. Nat., vol. 2, 1809, pp. 220-221 (Haiti, very rare). 



Platalea ajaja, Tristram, Ibis, 1S84, p. 168 (Dominican Republic, specimen). 



Ajaja ajaja, Cory, Cat. West Indian Birds, 1892, p. SS (Haiti, Dominican 

 Republic). 



Ajaia a jam, Moltoni, Att. Soc. Ital. Scienz. Nat., vol. 68, 1929, p. 309 (specimen) . 



Ajaia ajaja, Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 61, 1917, p. 398 (Monte Cristi, 

 specimen). — Bond, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliiladelpbia, vol. 80, 1928, p. 491 (re- 

 ported). — Danforth, Auk, 1929, p. 361 (Laguna del Salodillo, Artibonite River). 



Resident; rare. 



The spoonbill is one of the rarest of marsh birds of Hispaniola. 

 It is mentioned by Moreau de Saint-Mery as one of the birds found 

 in the Dominican Republic but without statement of definite locality. 

 Tristram reports one in a collection made by C. McGrigor that is 

 supposed to have come from near Samana Bay. J. L. Peters in 1916 

 examined the skull of one obtained by Curt Peters in the marshes at 

 the mouth of the Rio Yaqui del Norte, and states that the species was 

 reported as rare near Monte Cristi. Abbott informs us that he found 

 a flock of twenty or more near Trujin in the Dominican Republic on 

 February 9, 1922, but that they were so wild that he did not succeed 

 in collecting specimens. They were said to breed there at the south 

 end of the lagoon. He heard of them at Rincon and also in the Yuna 

 swamps, and was told that they were found occasionally at Lake 

 Enriquillo. An officer in the marines informed him that he had killed 

 one at the eastern end of this lake. Danforth saw eight at the 

 Laguna del Salodillo, near Copey, June 26, 1927. Dr. E. L. Ekman 

 (in a letter) says that he found this species on the island of Beata, 

 and on the Barahona Peninsula. 



Descourtilz reported the spoonbill as very rare in Haiti. Abbott 

 heard of them on the Etang Saumatre, and saw the wing of one said 

 to have been killed there. Near Desdunes, Haiti, on April 28, 1927, 

 as Wetmore crossed by airplane in company with Captain Pressley, 

 flying low over the coastal lagoons, a flock of three spoonbills rose 

 to follow a flock of flamingos. Looking directly down from an 

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