PL AT A LEA. 



yellow; legs and feet black (Legge). Bill in young birds yellow, 

 later dark ashy. 



Fig. 80. Bill of P. Itucorotlia. $. 



Length of male .33 inches : tail 4 g 75 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 6 ; bill 

 from gape 8. Females rather less. Eastern specimens run larger 

 than Western, and the Japanese race has been separated as 

 P. major. 



Distribution. Central and Southern Europe, Eastern Africa, 

 South-western Asia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Central Asia 

 to China and India. Spoonbills occur locally in well-watered 

 tracts throughout the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, but are rare 

 or wanting in drier and hilly regions. They are not common in 

 Lower Bengal, though some have been observed near Calcutta and 

 Dacca, but the species has not been met with in Assam, Manipur, 

 or Burma. 



Habits, tf*c. Spoonbills are resident in India; they are known to 

 breed in the Deccan, Sind, and the North-west Provinces, and also 

 in Ceylon. In Northern India, in the cold season, they are found 

 about large rivers, tanks, and marshes in small flocks, sometimes 

 in larger numbers, and they feed in shallow water on insects, 

 crustacea, worms, mollusca, and on \\ater-plants, occasionally alto 

 on small fish or frogs. They fly well, with the neck straight. 

 Several pairs breed together, making nests of sticks on trees near 

 water, and they lay usually four eggs, chalky white, with ill-defined 

 brown spots, and measuring about 2'7 by 1*81. The breeding- 

 season varies : August in the North-west Provinces, October and 

 November in Sind, April and May in the Deccan, March in Ceylon. 

 Spoonbills are good to eat. 



