CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 5? 



SPOONBILL. 

 64. 



Most old gunners can remember the time when flocks 

 of these birds were common every spring in the 

 marshes and on the mudbanks round our coasts. A 

 few, however, still make their appearance nearly every 

 season about the middle of May, along the flat country 

 between the mouths of the Humber and the Thames. 



A Spoonbill, when pitched by itself on a mudbank 

 where food is plentiful, is generally easily approached 

 within gunshot ; but its unusual appearance seems to 

 so excite any Gulls that are near at hand, that they 

 immediately commence flying and screaming round 

 the stranger, and never cease their clamour till they 

 have driven it out of their sight. 



The male bird in the case had frequented Breydon 

 mudflats for a week or ten days, feeding, whenever he 

 could get a chance, but had been so persecuted, that 

 he never had time to settle for more than a few 

 minutes before he was compelled to quit the spot. 



It was only by waiting near his accustomed feeding- 

 ground, just at daybreak, that I was enabled to get a 

 shot at him. 



It is stated that many years ago they bred in Nor- 

 folk, nesting on the tops of trees in the same manner 

 as the Heron. 



The specimens in the case were both shot on Brey- 

 don mudflats, near Yarmouth the female in May, 

 1871, the male in May, 1873. 



