366 PLATALEID.*:. 



Family PLATALEID^E. 



The Spoonbills are so nearly related to the Ibises, that by many 

 naturalists the two are united in the same family. But the 

 Spoonbills are less conspicuously schizorhinal, and their bill is 

 very different in form, dilated at the tip and not curved. A single 

 genus is Indian. 



Genus PLATALEA, Linn,, 1766. 



Both mandibles greatly flattened, especially anteriorly, where 

 they become broader, spoon-shaped, and slightly curved down at 

 the tip ; nostrils near base, elongately oval, each in a groove that 

 extends from the base, the two grooves parallel at first and 

 diverging at the nostrils, and running thence to the tip just inside 

 the curved border of the mandible. Sides of head in front of eye 

 naked. Legs long, tibia half-naked, tarsus reticulated throughout ; 

 toes long, bordered by membrane and webbed at the base. One 

 species is Indian. 



1545. Platalea leucorodia. The Spoonbill. 



Platalea leucorodia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 231 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. 

 p. 276 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 763 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 173 ; King, 

 J. A. 8. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 217 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, 

 p. 255; Hayes-Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 419 ; Hume, N. # E. p. 628 ; 

 id. 6'. F. i, p. 256; Adam, ibid. p. 399; Butler $ Hume, S. F. 

 iv, p. 24; Davids. $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 91 ; Ball, ibid. p. 231 ; 

 Hume, ibid. p. 491 ; id. Cat. no. 939 ; Doiy, S. F. viii, p. 372 ; 

 Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1096; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 91 ; Butler, ibid. 

 p. 435 ; Heidj 8. F. x, p. 77 ; Damson, ibid. p. 324 ; Simson, Ibis, 

 1882, p. 93 ; Parker, Ibis, 1883, p. 194 ; Swinh. $ Barnes, Ibis, 

 1885, p. 136; Ogilme Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 35; St. John, ibid. 

 p. 178 ; Gates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 217 ; Barnes, 

 Birds Bom. p. 388 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 150. 



Platalea leucerodia, Reichenb. Jour. f. Orn. 1877, p. 159; Sharve, 

 Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 44. 



Chamach buza (Spoon Ibis), H. ; Chinta, Beng. ; Gentu muku kont/a, 

 Tel.; C'hapij Chttndim, Tarn. (Ceylon). 



Coloration. Pure white ; on the lower fore neck a patch of 

 cinnamon-buff or tawny in adults. A large nuchal crest of 

 pointed and drooping plumes is assumed in the breeding-season. 



Young birds have no crest, and the primaries and primary- 

 coverts, and sometimes the secondaries, have black shafts ; the 

 outer primaries have blackish edges and tips. 



Bill black, more or less yellow at the tip; loral space yellow; 

 gular skin extending 2% to 3 inches down the throat reddish 



