PLATALEA.] AVES GRALLATORES, 193 



Very common in Holland, France, and other parts of the Continent, but 

 in this country a rare, and only accidental visitant. Montagu mentions 

 one which was killed near Salisbury, in February 1790 ; a second shot at 

 Sandwich in Kent, in 1805 ; and a third in Hampshire, in the Autumn 

 of 1808. Has occurred in Suffolk more recently, and in three or four 

 instances. Food, reptiles and insects, as well as small quadrupeds and 

 birds. Builds on the tops of houses, or in old trees. Lays generally 

 three eggs. 



182. C. nigra, Ray. (Black Stork.) Black; lower 

 part of the breast, and belly, white. 



C. nigra, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 561. Black Stork, Mont, 

 in Linn. Trans, vol. xn. p. 19. Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 48. pi. 11*. 



DIMENS. Entire length nearly three feet. TEMM. 



DESCRIPT. (Adult.) Head, neck, all the upper parts of the body, 

 wings, and tail, black, with purple and green reflections ; lower part of 

 the breast and belly dingy white : bill and orbits bright orange : irides 

 hazel: legs and toes deep red. (Young.) Head, and upper part of the 

 neck, pale reddish brown, with the central portion of the feathers dusky ; 

 back, scapulars, wings, and tail, dusky brown, very slightly glossed with 

 greenish hues : bill, orbits, and legs, olivaceous green. (Egg.) Of a 

 uniform greenish buff: long. diam. two inches seven lines; trans, diam. 

 one inch eleven lines. 



A single individual of this species is recorded by Montagu as having 

 been shot in West Sedge-Moor, in Somersetshire, May 13, 1814. The 

 specimen is now in the British Museum. A second is stated to have 

 been shot in October 1832, in the parish of Otley, about eight miles from 

 Ipswich. (Loud. Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. vn. p. 53.) Inhabits various 

 parts of Europe, but is less plentiful than the last species. Said to 

 frequent wooded swamps and extensive forests. Food, small fish, rep 

 tiles, and insects. Builds in lofty trees, and lays two or three eggs. 



GEN. 71. PLATALEA, Linn. 



183. P. Leucorodia, Linn. (White Spoonbill.) Whole 

 pltimage white: a pendent crest of long subulate feathers 

 on the occiput. 



P. Leucorodia, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 595. Spoonbill, 

 Penn. Brit. Zoot. vol. n. App. p. 634. pi. 9. Bew. Brit. Birds, 

 vol. ii. p. 29. White Spoonbill, Mont. Orn. Diet, fy Supp. 

 Selb. Illust. vol. ii. p. 51. pi. 10. (Trachea,) Linn. Trans. 

 vol. xvi. pi. 19. 



DIMENS. Entire length thirty-one inches: length of the bill (from 

 the forehead) seven inches three lines ; breadth of the spoon one inch ten 

 lines ; length of the tarsus four inches eleven lines ; of the naked part of 

 the tibia two inches eight lines ; from the carpus to the end of the wing 

 fourteen inches six lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Old male.) The whole plumage pure white, with the 

 exception of a large patch of buff yellow on the upper part of the breast, 

 from whence a narrow band of the same colour ascends on each side 

 towards the top of the back : lore, orbits, and naked space on the throat, 

 orange-yellow : bill black ; the tip ochre-yellow : irides red : legs black. 



N 



