708 



SPOONBILL. 



the incubation, and when the young make their ap- 

 pearance, they are covered with down, and capable of 

 running about. When they are alarmed, or other- 

 wise excited, they make a snapping noise with their 

 bills. 



On their southern migration, the valley of the Nile 

 is their first retreat from Europe, and they probably 

 range from the head of that valley through the whole 

 of the fertile parts of Africa ; for they are found as 

 far south as the region of the Cape, where they are 

 sometimes called " serpent eaters," which name they 

 probably deserve, as their bills, though flexible, are 

 set with" tubercles on the inside of the mandibles ; 

 and their length enables them to close at the points 

 with great rapidity, and of course with proportionate 

 effect. 



WHITE SPOONBILL (P. leucorordia). This is the 

 species which is found on the eastern continent, over 

 which it is very generally distributed, though not in 

 great numbers at any one place, and not very con- 

 spicuous on account of its retiring habits. Early in 

 the morning and lute in the evening are its feeding 

 times when the weather is dry ; but during rain it 

 comes abroad at other times. As is the case with 

 most, if not with all of the larger birds of the banks 

 of rivers, it eats very voraciously when food can be 

 had, but it is also capable of enduring long abstinence. 

 This is necessary in order to adapt it to those loca- 

 lities in which nature has placed it. They are sub- 

 ject to drought and partial inundations, even during 

 the summer. In the last of these the food of the 

 spoonbill comes out in considerable numbers ; but in 

 the drought it disappears, or comes out only in the 

 twilight. The total length of the full-grown spoon- 

 bill is about two feet and a half ; and the length of 

 the bill is between eight and nine inches ; the plu- 

 mage is white, with the exception of a large collar of 

 reddish-yellow, which extends downwards in front, 

 and forms a breast-plate ; the forehead, the cheeks, 

 a space round the eyes, the chin and the middle of 

 the throat, are naked, and of a pale yellowish colour, 

 with a shade of reddish on the lower part of the 

 throat ; the bill is black, with waved furrows across 

 the upper mandible, the deepest parts of which are 

 bluish ; there are triangular lateral grooves for the 

 basal half of the length, and these pass into thread- 

 shaped furrows for the remaining part ; the enlarged 

 portion toward the point is yellow with a border of 

 black ; and the lower mandible is w holly black, with a 

 triangular furrow in the basal half, and a narrow groove 

 in the remainder ; the hind head is furnished with a 

 long crest of awl-shaped feathers. The female is of 

 smaller size than the male, has the crest on the occiput 

 considerably shorter, and the red on the naked part 

 of the throat is not nearly so conspicuous. The young 

 of the year have the shafts of the quills black, and are 

 without the crest and the reddish colour on the neck, 

 which last does not make its appearance till after the 

 second moult ; on account of this they have been 

 sometimes described as a different species from the 

 old birds. Differences of appearance have been 

 noticed in some specimens from southern Africa, but 

 it is doubtful whether any of them are of sufficient 

 consequence for entitling the birds to be regarded as 

 distinct species from the common one. As a British 

 bird, the common spoonbill can be looked upon only 

 as a straggler, although it straggles into the south- 

 east of England more frequently than some of the 

 other occasionally visiting marsh birds. It some 



times appears on its northward passage, and some- 

 times on its southward, but there is no very clear 

 evidence of its having, in any instance, remained to 

 breed in the country. It probably did so. in former 

 times, when marshes were much more abundant and 

 marsh birds more plentiful, than they are now, but at . 

 present it cannot properly be regarded as a British 

 bird. It is, however, by no means so rare, or, at all 

 events, so solitary in its corning, as some others of 

 our straggling birds. Spoonbills certain^ do not 

 come so often as to make the looking out for them 

 an occupation in which any person in the British 

 islands needs to engage in the hope of being certain 

 that the result of his watching shall gratify even his 

 curiosity ; but when they are seen, they are generally 

 in considerable numbers. Generally speaking, how- 

 ever, it is but a sight and away ; and though the 

 casual appearance of continental migrants upon our 

 shores has not been very carefully noted along with 

 the state of the weather, and the set of the wind pre- 

 ceding their appearance, yet there is little doubt that 

 spoonbills, cranes, storks, and all birds of that family, 

 which are occasionally seen with us for a little while, are 

 blown to our shores by cross winds from the east, 

 which compel the birds to make lee-way ; and that 

 the fatigue of struggling against these, compels them 

 to alight and rest themselves before they again take 

 to the wing. As a show bird in collections, the 

 spoonbill is by no means rare ; and the large size and 

 irregular form of its bill render it an interesting bird 

 whenever it makes its appearance. The specific use 

 of the very peculiar form of the bill in this bird is 

 not known with any certainty, and all that we can 

 positively say about it is, that it is intermediate be- 

 tween the cultrirostral, or knife-shaped bills of the 

 other wading birds of the family, and the flat bills of 

 the dabbling birds, which have the toes entirely 



Spoonbill. 



webbed, and are launched upon the waters. As 

 little do we know the precise part which these birds 

 act in the general economy of nature ; but from their 

 general distribution, their size, and their power ol 



