502 ARDEIDvE. 



allow one bird to sit, and the other to stand beside it : we 

 found four eggs in each. The Spoonbill was also found by 

 the Russian Naturalists on the banks of the rivers, and in 

 the marshes of the country between the Black and the Cas- 

 pian Seas. Colonel Sykes brought specimens from India, 

 which although three or four inches longer, were otherwise 

 identical with the European bird. These specimens were 

 obtained in the Dukhun, one hundred miles from the sea, 

 and at an elevation of two thousand feet. 



These birds build in some countries on high trees ; in 

 default of trees, they make their nests among reeds or rushes 

 in the marshes, or near the lakes to which they resort. The 

 materials have been already noticed in the floating nests seen 

 by Messrs. Dickson and Ross. The eggs are four, two 

 inches five lines long, by one inch eight lines broad, white, 

 spotted with pale reddish brown. The birds feed on small 

 reptiles, small fishes, mollusca, aquatic insects, shrimps, sand- 

 hoppers, &c. many of which they find when feeding at pools 

 on the seashore. Their flesh is dark in colour, but it is said 

 to be of good flavour, and without any fishy taste. They are 

 quiet and inoffensive in captivity, and, in common with the 

 various species to which they are allied, will feed on any sort 

 of offal. 



In the adult male bird the beak is black, except the 

 rounded part near the point, where it is yellow ; the naked 

 skin under the tongue and on the throat is also yellow ; the 

 ii'ides red ; the Avhole of the plumage pure white, except a 

 band of feathers at the bottom of the neck in front, which is 

 of a buff colour, and this tint extends upwards on each side 

 in a narrow stripe to the top ; the feathers of the occiput are 

 elongated, forming a conspicuous plume ; the legs, toes, and 

 claws black ; the toes connected by a considerable expanse of 

 membrane which is concave at the margin between the toes. 



The whole length of the bird, from the point of the beak 



