126 SPOONBILL. 



was obtained near the Land's End, on the 8th. of October, 

 1845 : it was an immature specimen. One also at St. Mary's, 

 Scilly, the first week in June, 1850; one, also a young bird 

 of the year, at Frensham Pond, Surrey, October 24th., 1844. 

 One on West Sedge Moor, in the parish of Stoke St. Gregory, 

 Somersetshire, on the 25th. of November, 1813; one at Lynn, 

 in Norfolk, about the 23rd. of September, 1843; a flock 

 occurred in the marshes in 1774; several were killed in the 

 year 1808, and two or three are generally killed every spring 

 on Breydon. In Dorsetshire several, one of them near Poole; 

 some also in Devonshire. In Suffolk four, one of them at 

 Aldborough, and the other three at Thorpe, out of a flock 

 of seven. Two were met with in Lincolnshire, in 1826; they 

 used to build anciently in that county at Trimley. Selby 

 alludes to two killed in Lincolnshire. One, a male, on the 

 Eremol River, near Nottingham, in 1833, as William Felkin, 

 Esq., Jun*, has written me word. 



The species has occurred also in Worcestershire and 

 Gloucestershire. In Kent, a flock of six frequented Sandwich 

 Haven in the first week of June, 1850; one of them was 

 shot near there, one, an old female, in the Wingham Marshes, 

 and three were seen flying 'about in Pegwell Bay. 



In Wales, one was procured near Aberystwith, in January, 

 1838. Two had been obtained near Holyhead, in the Isle of 

 Anglesea, in the year 1832. 



In Ireland, three were seen near Youghall, in the county 

 of Cork, in the autumn of 1829, and one of them was shot. 



Sir Robert Sibbald mentions it as an occasional visitor to 

 Scotland, and he states that he also received it from Orkney. 

 Dr. Fleming mentions one that was shot in Zetland. 



The Spoonbill is easily tamed if taken when young, but in 

 its wild state is shy and distrustful. Marshes, bogs, swamps, 

 and low grounds moistened by pools an.d streams, are its 

 natural haunts. It is pretty good to eat. To itself, when 

 in confinement, nothing seems to come amiss. 



They fly with the neck and legs both stretched out, and 

 in standing the neck is commonly bent in the form of the 

 letter S. In flight the wings are widely spread, and moved 

 with regular flappings, but not very quickly. 



It appears to collect its food by ploughing the water above 

 the soft sand or mud from side to side with its spade-like 

 bill, keeping it open till something comes in its way, or rather 

 till it comes in the way of something. This with the neck 



