IV IBIDIDAE 



103 



being most plentiful on the Upper Nile, though wandering to 

 the Persian Gulf, Egypt, and Algeria. The bare head and neck, 

 the bill, feet, and tips of the primaries are black ; the decom- 

 posed inner secondaries and scapulars, which in summer curve 

 gracefully over the hinder parts, are iridescent black, the re- 

 mainder of the plumage is white. /. lernicri of Madagascar, 

 and probably Aldal^ra Island, has white primaries, as has /. mela- 

 nocephala, ranging from India and Java to Japan. The latter, 

 moreover, develops in the breeding season a ruff of long plumes 

 on the fore-neck, similar to that of /. molucca of Australia, 

 Papuasia, and Ceram, which is distinguished by ten pink bars 

 crossing the occiput and nape, and pink spots on the crown. 



The sexes are similar, but young Ibises are comparatively dull, 

 and have feathered heads and necks, while crests and ornamental 

 plumes are generally absent. In immature examples of Ihis and 

 elsewhere the head and neck are black and white, in Niijponia 

 the plumage is apparently grey, in Uudocimus chiefly brown. 



Sub-fam. 2. Plataleinae. Spoonbills are shy gregarious birds, 

 frequenting creeks of the sea or marshes, where they may be seen 

 wading ankle-cleep in water, hunting for the fish, frogs, crus- 

 taceans, molluscs, beetles, and insect-larvae on which they live, or 

 searching the ground in drier spots. They walk sedately, and fly 

 with easy flapping action and outstretched head and legs, now and 

 then rising spirally to float aloft ; while swimming, perching, or 

 standing on one leg are ordinary habits. In feeding, the beak is 

 moved from side to side in semicircular fashion, the body acting 

 in unison. There are no true vocal muscles, the voice being a 

 harsh quack or deep Heron-like note ; but a clattering of the 1 )ill 

 is heard at times, less noisy than in Storks. The nest, when in 

 reed-beds, is a mass of twigs, flags, and the like, placed on the 

 ground or on low bushes ; but it is commonly a large platform of 

 sticks in a tree, the three to five rouo-hish eggs being dull white 

 with red-brown spotting. Colonies are nearly always formed. 



Platalea hucorodia, the Spoonbill, which once l)red regularly 

 in England, ranges over Central and Southern Europe and 

 Northern Africa, to Central Asia, Ceylon, and China ; P. rcgia in- 

 habits Australia, and proliably Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, and 

 New Guinea, straying also to New Zealand; P. minor occurs 

 in China, Corea, Japan, and Formosa ; P. alha in the Ethiopian 

 Piegion with Madagascar. The plumage is white, with bare lores 



