52 GRALLATORES. PLATALEA. SPOONBILL. 



November 1804, and the second in March 1807. Since that 

 period other individuals have been obtained ; amongst these, 

 two recorded in the third volume of the Zoological Journal, 

 as killed in Lincolnshire; and, when in London in May 

 1830, I obtained a male and female in fine adult plumage 

 from Norfolk. From the time of year at which these birds 

 were killed, it is not improbable (and the conjecture may be 

 hazarded) that they would have remained to breed in the 

 district they had selected; and, though my collection has 

 profited by their capture, I must still regret that they were 

 not allowed to remain in security. This species is pretty 

 generally dispersed upon the Continent, and in no country is 

 more plentiful than in Holland, where it comes as a summer 

 periodical visitant, and retires for warmer climates in Sep- 

 tember, frequently migrating in company with the stork. 

 Nest, &c. If trees occur in the neighbourhood of the haunts of the 

 Spoonbill, it builds on them like the Heron, and other kinds 

 of Ardeada ; but if there be none, it then makes its nest in 

 the rushes or reeds of the marshes or lakes to which it re- 

 sorts. It lays from two to four eggs, generally pure white, 

 but sometimes marked with spots of reddish-brown. In the 

 young state of the bird the bill is soft and flexible, covered 

 with a thin skin, and shewing none of the rugosity or trans- 

 verse furrows that distinguish that part in maturity. The 

 food of the Spoonbill consists of the fry of fish, aquatic 

 worms, reptiles, insects, and the roots of certain weeds and 

 grasses. Its flesh is said to be in flavour nearly like that of 

 the goose, without any fishy or unpleasant taste. In its ana- 

 tomy it shews an affinity to the Cranes in the form of the 

 windpipe, which, previous to entering the thorax, undergoes 

 a double flexure to the extent of about two inches, and forms 

 a convolution similar to the figure 8. The flexures touch, 

 but do not cross each other, the points of contact being uni- 

 ted by fine membranes. This double flexure, according to 

 WILLOUGHBY and TEMMINCK, was supposed peculiar to the 

 males ; but MONTAGU disproves that idea, as the specimen 



