602 ARDEID^. 



to the end of the tail, is about thirty-two inches ; of which, 

 the beak in an old male will measure near nine inches ; 

 from the carpal joint to the end of the wing fourteen inches 

 and a half; the first quill-feather not quite so long as the 

 fourth ; the second and third equal in length, rather longer 

 than the fourth, and the longest in the wing. 



The females are not so large at the same age as males, 

 and have a smaller occipital crest ; but they are not other- 

 wise dissimilar in plumage. 



In young birds the beak is not so large, it is softer in its 

 texture, more flexible, and of a lighter colour ; the naked 

 parts about the head paler; the irides ash colour; the 

 shafts and the ends of the quill -feathers are black, and 

 there is no indication of the elongated occipital feathers, 

 which at mature age are borne by both sexes. 



The Spoonbill possesses a peculiarity of internal struc- 

 ture much too interesting to be passed over. This bird is 

 one of the very few which has been found to possess no 

 true muscles of the organ of voice, and no modulation of 

 its single tone appears to be possessed by the bird. The 

 figure inserted on the next page is a representation of part 

 of the inside of this bird, with the figure of 8 like convo- 

 lutions of its singular windpipe in the natural situation in 

 front of the lungs ; the insertion of the bronchiae into the 

 lobe of the lungs on each side is shown, but if compared 

 with the representations of the organs of voice in birds at 

 pages 75, 78, and 80 of the present volume, it will be 

 seen that no particular ossification at the junction of the 

 bronchiae with the bottom of the tube of the trachea 

 exists, nor any muscles by which variations in the length 

 of the trachea or the bronchiae can be effected. In a 

 young Spoonbill taken from the nest, and examined by 

 Willughby in reference to this particular structure, which 

 is said to have been first noticed by Aldrovandus, this pe- 



