THE SPOONBILL 



[ORDER: Ciconiiformes. SUBORDER: Ciconice. FAMILY: Ibididce. 



SUBFAMILY: Plataleince] 



PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOURDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



SPOONBILL [Platalea leucorodia Linnaeus. Shoveler or shovelard, popeler 

 (obsolete) ; banjo-bill (Norfolk). French, spatule blanche ; German, weisser 

 Loffler, Lqffelreiher ; Italian, spatola]. 



I. Description. The spoonbill may at all times be distinguished by its 

 white plumage and the broad spoon-shaped beak. The sexes are alike, and there is 

 no marked seasonal change of plumage. [Nest Plate LXX.] Length 36 in. [194 mm.]. 

 The male during the breeding season has a conspicuous, pendant, occipital crest, 

 tinged with buff, the fore-neck is similarly tinged. In the female the crest is much 

 smaller, and it is absent in both in winter. The beak is black, barred with yellow, 

 the region of the throat is bare and of an orange colour, the iris is red, and the feet 

 and toes are black. The juvenile dress is white like that of the parents, but the crest 

 is absent and the beak much narrower. The downy young are white, [w. P. P.] 



a. Distribution. As a breeding species the spoonbill has long been extinct 

 in Great Britain, though it still visits our east coasts regularly at the periods of 

 passage, but is known to have nested formerly in East Anglia, Sussex, Middlesex, 

 and Pembrokeshire. On the Continent two colonies exist in Holland, and some 

 also nest in Andalucia, while it also breeds in Hungary, Slavonia (in enormous 

 numbers), Dalmatia, Roumania, and South Russia to the Southern Urals and 

 Transcaucasia. In Africa it may possibly breed locally in Marocco and Algeria, 

 and in Asia is found from Northern Syria and Asia Minor eastward through Central 

 Asia to India. In Eastern Asia as well as in Tropical Africa and Australia it is 

 replaced by allied races. To its European breeding-places it is a summer migrant, 



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