THE ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 



PECIMENS of this bird 

 when seen for the first 

 time always excite wonder 

 and admiration. The 

 beautiful plumage, the 

 strange figure, and the curiously 

 shaped bill at once attract attention. 

 Formerly this Spoonbill was found as 

 far west as Illinois and specimens 

 were occasionally met with about 

 ponds in the Mississippi Bottoms, 

 below St. Louis. Its habitat is the 

 whole of tropical and subtropical 

 America, north regularly to the Gulf 

 coast of the United States. 



Audubon observed that the Roseate 

 Spoonbill is to be met with along the 

 marshy or muddy borders of estuaries, 

 the mouths of rivers, on sea islands, or 

 keys partially overgrown with bushes, 

 and still more abundantly along the 

 shores of the salt-water bayous, so 

 common within a mile or two of the 

 shore. There it can reside and breed, 

 with almost complete security, in the 

 midst of an abundance of food. It is 

 said to be gregarious at all seasons, 

 and that seldom less than half a dozen 

 may be seen together, unless they have 

 been dispersed by a tempest. At the 

 approach of the breeding season these 

 small flocks come together, forming 

 immense collections, and resort to their 

 former nesting places, to which they 

 almost invariably return. The birds 

 moult late in May, and during this 

 time the young of the previous year 

 conceal themselves among the man- 

 groves, there spending the day, return- 

 ing at night to their feeding grounds, 

 but keeping apart from the old birds, 

 which last have passed through their 



spring moult early in March. The 

 Spoonbill is said occasionally to rise 

 suddenly on the wing, and ascend 

 gradually in a spiral manner, to a great 

 height. It flies with its neck stretched 

 forward to its full length, its legs and 

 feet extended behind. It moves with 

 easy flappings, until just as it is about 

 to alight, when it sails over the spot 

 with expanded wing and comes 

 gradually to the ground. 



Usually the Spoonbill is found in 

 the company of Herons, whose 

 vigilance apprises it of any danger. 

 Like those birds, it is nocturnal, its 

 principal feeding time being from near 

 sunset until daylight. In procuring 

 its food it wades into the water, 

 immerses its immense bill in the soft 

 mud, with the head, and even the 

 whole neck, beneath the surface, mov- 

 ing its partially opened mouth to and 

 fro, munching the small fry insects 

 or shell-fish before it swallows them. 

 Where many are together, one usually 

 acts as a sentinel. The Spoonbill can 

 alight on a tree and walk on the large 

 branches with much facility. 



The nests of these birds are plat- 

 forms of sticks, built close to the trunks 

 of trees, from eight to eighteen feet 

 from the ground. Three or four eggs 

 are usually laid. The young, when 

 able to fly, are grayish white. In their 

 second year they are unadorned with 

 the curling feathers on the breast, but 

 in the third spring they are perfect. 



Formerly very abandant, these 

 attractive creatures have greatly 

 diminished by the constant persecu- 

 tion of the plume hunters. 



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