THE SPOONBILL. 



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ly edged with buff. The under surface of the body is buff streaked with 

 brown, the beak is greenish yellow, and the feet and legs are green. In 

 total length the Bittern measures about thirty inches. 



The well-known Spoonbill affords an instance of the endless variety 

 of forms assumed by the beak. 



It has a very wide range df country, being spread over the greater 

 part of Europe and Asia, and inhabiting a portion of Africa. This 

 species is one of the 

 Waders, frequenting the 

 waters, and obtaining a 

 subsistence from the 

 fish, reptiles, and small- 

 er aquatic inhabitants, 

 which it captures in the 

 broad spoon-like extrem- 

 ity of its beak. It is also 

 fond of frequenting the 

 seashore, where it finds 

 a bountiful supply of 

 food along the edge of 

 the waves and in the 

 little pools that are left 

 by the retiring waters, 

 where shrimps, crabs, 

 sand-hoppers, and sim- 

 ilar animals are crowd- 

 ed closely together as 

 the water sinks through 

 the sand. The bird also ^ 

 eats some vegetable sub- 

 stances, such as the roots 

 of aquatic herbae^e, and ^ ^ ^ , .„ « * 



, ^ . ^ ® .„ 1. Roseate Spoonbill. 2. American Avoset. 



when m COnhnement will piover. 4. Semipalmated Sandpiper. 



feed upon almost any 



kind of animal or vegetable matter, providing it be soft and moist. 

 The beak of an adult Spoonbill is about eight inches in length, very 

 much flattened, and is channelled and grooved at the base. In some 

 countries the beak is taken from the bird, scraped very thin, and pol- 

 ished, and is then used as a spoon, and is thought a valuable article, 

 being sometimes set in silver. 



The breeding-places of the Spoonbill are usually open trees, the banks 

 of rivers or in little islands and tufts of aquatic herbage. In the latter 

 cases the nest is rather large, and is made of reeds piled loosely together, 

 and set on a foundation of water-weeds heaped sufficiently high to keep 



39 



3. Ruddy 



