ROSEATE SPOONBILL 



Found in mud flats, marshes and lagoons. I 

 have observed occasional individuals in the in- 

 lets and ponds along the Canal. A number of 

 them were noted on a precipitous jungle-covered 

 cliff on Pedro Gonzales in the Pearl Islands in 

 March 1926. 



2. Ajaia ajaja (Linnaeus) 

 Roseate Spoonbill. "Pato Cuchara" 



Sexes similar. Length about 840 mm. (33.00 

 in.); tail about 115 mm. (4.50 in.). Head and 

 throat, bare neck and upper back white, some- 

 times suffused with pink; lesser wing coverts, 

 upper and under tail coverts rich carmine; sides 

 of breast and tail tawny buff; remainder of 

 plumage pink. Bare skin of head varied, with 

 green, yellow, orange and black; iris carmine; 

 legs red. 



Young. Similar to adults but the pink paler, 

 the head and throat feathered, the tawny yellow 

 and carmine of the adults replaced by pink. 



If one is fortunate enough to see one of these 

 birds of rare and exquisite coloring, there can be 

 no mistake in their identification. The species 

 is one of those which have suffered the most from 

 the plume hunters, and has been exterminated 

 from most of its former haunts. Hallinan re- 

 ports one from the mouth of the Rio Juan Diaz; 

 I saw one from the Canal on the shore of a 

 small, secluded pond not far from Gatun Lake. 

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