308 THE SPOONBILL 



eggs are usually 4 in number, sometimes only 3, and occasionally 5. Instances in 

 which 6 eggs have been found in a nest may be due to two birds laying together. 

 They are white when fresh, rather variable in shape, but frequently a pointed oval, 

 and show hardly any gloss. Generally they are sparingly spotted and blotched with 

 red-brown, and in some cases bold blotches of dark brown may be found, but as a 

 rule they are poorly marked, and the spots show a tendency to form a cap or zone 

 at the big end. Incubation lasts for about three weeks, but the share of the sexes 

 is not known, though both birds are frequently together on the nest, one sitting 

 and the other standing close by. The breeding season in Southern Spain begins 

 towards the latter part of April, and full clutches may be obtained by the end of 

 April or the first week in May. In Holland eggs are to be found early in May. 

 Only one brood is reared during the season. [F. c. B. jr.] 



5. Food. Naumann states that the principal food of this species consists of 

 small fish, spawn, larvae of aquatic insects, worms, molluscs, and it is said snakes 

 and frogs. Vegetable matter is also undoubtedly eaten. In the stomachs of speci- 

 mens obtained on the English coasts have been found specimens of the three-spined 

 stickleback, Gasterosteus leiurus (Zoologist, 1866, p. 348), shrimps (Sheppard and 

 Whitear) mixed with sand and silt, and sandhoppers. Of vegetable products the 

 fruit of a Sparganium and a single carpel of a Potamogeton (probably P, pectinatus) 

 have been recognised (Harting). [F. c. B. J.] 



