500 ARDEID/E. 



far as the second articulation by a membrane, the marginal edge of which is 

 deeply concave ; hind toe long. Wings rather large; the first quill feather 

 nearly as long as the second, which is the longest in the wing. 



The beak of the Spoonbill is one of those very singular 

 modifications of an organ which nature sometimes exhibits as 

 if to show the many diversities of form which can be rendered 

 applicable to one purpose ; for notwithstanding the difference 

 so conspicuous in this instrument, the food of the Spoonbill 

 is very similar to that of the Herons, the Bitterns, and the 

 Storks, and the bird itself is in other respects very closely 

 allied to the Waders already described. 



The Spoonbill is recorded as a British bird by Merrett, 

 on the authority of Dr. Turner, and by Sir Robert Sibbald 

 as an accidental visiter to Scotland : he states having received 

 it from Orkney, Sir Thomas Browne, who was contem- 

 porary with Merrett and Sibbald, says, "the Platea or Shove- 

 lard build upon the tops of high trees. They formerly built 

 in the Hernery at Claxton and Rudham ; now at Trimley 

 in Suffolk. They come in March, and are shot by fowlers, 

 not for their meat, but their handsomeness ; remarkable in 

 their white colour, copped crown and spoon, or spatule-like 

 bill." Record is also made of a flock of these birds which 

 migrated into the marshes near Yarmouth, in April 1774. 

 Spoonbills have since been killed on many occasions, and but 

 for the recent, and almost universal practice of draining in 

 this country, to bring fen land into successful cultivation, 

 these birds might still be numbered among our constant 

 summer visiters. Mr. Thompson of Belfast was informed 

 by Mr. Ball of Dublin, that three Spoonbills were seen near 

 Youghall in Ireland, in the autumn of 1829, and one of 

 them was shot. Mr. Eyton has noticed one that was killed 

 at Aberystwith in January 1838. This species has occurred 

 in Worcestershire and in Gloucestershire. Several specimens 

 have been killed in Devonshire and in Dorsetshire, one of 



