THE SPOON BILL. 357 



and in Guiana the flute-bird (Cyphorinus cardans) delights 

 the ear with his melodious song. All these lovely musicians of 

 the grove belong to the extensive finch tribe, and, like their 

 European cousins, appear in a simple unostentatious garb. 



The same beauty of plumage which characterises so many of 

 the American forest-birds, adorns, likewise, the feathered tribes 

 of the swamp and the morass, of the river and the lake. 

 Nothing can exceed in beauty a troop of scarlet Ibises or deep 

 red Flamingoes (Phoenicopterus ruber) on the green margin of 

 a stream. Eaised on enormous stilts, and with an equally dis- 

 proportionate length of neck, the flamingoes would be reckoned 

 among the most uncouth birds, if their splendid robe did not 

 entitle them to rank among the most beautiful. 



They always live in troops, and range themselves, whether 

 fishing or resting, like soldiers, in long lines. One of the 

 number acts as sentinel, and on the approach of danger gives a 

 warning scream, like the sound of a trumpet, when, instantly, 

 the whole troop, expanding their flaming wings, rise loudly 

 clamouring into the air. -. 



These strange-formed birds build in the swamps high conical 

 nests of mud, in the shape of a hillock with a cavity at top, in 

 which the female generally lays two white eggs of the size of 

 those of a goose, but more elongated. The rude construction is 

 sufficiently high to admit of her sitting on it conveniently, or 

 rather riding, as the legs are placed on each side at full length. 

 Their mode of feeding is no less remarkable. Twisting their 

 neck in such a manner that the upper part of their bill is ap- 

 plied to the ground, they at the same time disturb the mud 

 with one of their webbed feet, thus raising up from the water 

 insects and spawn, on which they chiefly subsist. 



Six feet high, and stately as a grenadier of the guards, the 

 American Jabiru stalks along the banks of the morasses. His 

 plumage is white, but his neck and head are black, like his 

 long legs ; his conical, sharp, and powerful black bill, is a little 

 recurved, while that of the stork, to whom he is closely related, 

 is straight. He destroys an incredible number of reptiles and 

 fishes ; and, being very sly, is difficult to kill. 



The roseate American Spoon-bill {PlataUa Ajaja) is par- 

 ticularly remarkable for his curious large beak, dilating at the 



