WHITE SPOONBILL. 501 



■which happened near Poole. Four are known to have been 

 killed in Suffolk, one of them at Aldborough, the other three 

 at Thorpe, out of a flock of seven. Several have been ob- 

 tained recently in Norfolk, particularly about Yarmouth. 

 Two examples were received in London from Lincolnshire in 

 1826. Sir Robert Sibbald, as before observed, has recorded 

 their occurrence in Orkney, and Dr. Fleming mentions one 

 that was shot in Zetland. 



Muller includes the Spoonbill among his birds of Den- 

 mark, and M. Nilsson says it is an occasional visiter to 

 Sweden. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says " it inhabits 

 the Faroe isles ; and on the continent is sometimes found in 

 summer as high as West Bothnia and Lapland. Inhabits 

 also the temperate parts of Russia and Siberia, both in flocks 

 and solitary, frequenting the vast lakes of the country. Is 

 seen even beyond lake Baikal. Winters in the south." I 

 do not, however, find the Spoonbill included in the more 

 modern catalogues of the birds of Lapland, Norway, or the 

 Faroe Islands. 



Like many of the wading birds with which it is allied, the 

 Spoonbill is a migratory species, quitting the north of Europe, 

 and more particularly Holland, which is its favourite summer 

 resort, to pass the winter in the warmer parts of Europe, and 

 has been found as far south in Africa as the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It is found in Italy, where it passes the winter in 

 the salt marshes, or in flocks on the sea coast. Pennant says 

 that Aleppo is one of its winter retreats. Messrs. Dickson 

 and Ross found this bird at Erzeroom in May, at the river, 

 where it breeds ; several nests are placed near each other, 

 about the middle of the river. They are made of reeds, 

 bound together by weeds, which are piled up a few inches 

 above the water's edge. Over this foundation dried reeds 

 are placed in various directions, to form the body of the nest, 

 which is not lined with anything, and is just large enough to 



