114 PLATALEIDJE. 



Azara the name of dfeytado, or " shaved/' but about its habits he has 

 nothing to say, nor does he mention its peculiar voice, or, perhaps it 

 would be more correct to say, its want of voice ; for it seems quite silent 

 unless one comes near to it and listens very intently, when he will be 

 able to hear little sigh-like puffs of sound as the bird flies away. It 

 seems strange that this member of a loquacious loud-voiced family 

 should be reduced to speak, as it were, in whispers ! 



On two or three occasions I have seen as many as half a dozen indi- 

 viduals together ; at other times I have seen one or two associating with 

 the Glossy Ibis. 



Azara's name "Shaved" Ibis seems well enough in Spanish, just as 

 his " Throat-cut " for a Starling with a scarlet throat does not strike one 

 as at all shocking in that language ; but for an English name I fancy 

 that " Whispering Ibis/' from the whisper-like sound the bird emits, 

 would be more suitable, or, at all events, better sounding. 



It is possible that two races of this Ibis exist on the South-American 

 continent ; for in Brazil and further north it is said to have a loud cry, 

 uttered when taking wing, as in the case of the Glossy Ibis ; and one of 

 its native names in the tropics curri-curri is said to be an imitation 

 of its usual note. 



331. AJAJA ROSEA, Eeichenb. 

 (ROSEATE SPOONBILL.) 



Platalea ajaja, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 511 ; Scl et Salv. P. Z. S. 1808, 

 p. 145 ; iid. Xomencl. p. 127 ; Hudson, P. Z. S. 187G, p. 15 (Buenos Ayres) ; 

 Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 190 (Buenos Ayres); Gibson, Ibis, 1880, p. 150 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 272 (Entrerios, Bahia Blanca). 

 Ajaja rosea, Baird, Brew., et Ridyw. Water- B. N. A. i. p. 102. 



Description. Head bare ; neck, back, and breast white ; tail orange-buff, 

 with the shafts deep pink and inner webs stained with pink ; rest of plumage 

 pale rose-pink : lesser wing-coverts and upper and lower tail-coverts intense 

 carmine ; neck with a tuft of twisted plumes, light carmine ; sides of breast pale 

 creamy buff; bill yellowish grey ; head greenish, space round the eye and gular 

 sac orange ; feet pale pink : whole length 30'0 inches, wing 15-0, tail 5-0. Female 

 similar. Young with the head completely feathered. 



Hab. North and South America. 



The Roseate Spoonbill is found in both Americas and ranges south to 

 the Straits of Magellan, but in Patagonia it is, I think, rare, for on the 

 Rio Negro I did not meet with it. On the pampas it is abundant, and 

 I have been told that it breeds in the marshes there, but I have never 

 been able to find a nest. It is usually seen in small flocks of from half 

 a dozen to twenty individuals, which all feed near together, wading up to 



