ARDEIDJE. 305 



Stoke St. Gregory, in the November of the previous 

 year. There is the beak and skull of another speci- 

 men in the Museum at Taunton : this was shot on 

 Curry Moor, but there is no date mentioned. This 

 bird has frequently occurred in the neighbouring 

 county of Devon, and also, but not so often, in Dor- 

 setshire. It is a migratory species, going North in 

 summer to breed and returning South for the winter. 

 The greater number of specimens recorded as having 

 occurred in England have been in the spring and 

 autumn, when the birds are on the move. 



The food of the Spoonbill consists of small rep- 

 tiles, small fish,* Mollusca, aquatic insects, shrimps 

 and sand-hoppers : Meyer adds grasses and the roots 

 of water-plants to the list of food. It is easily kept 

 in confinement, and may then be fed upon any sort 

 of offal. 



The place chosen for the nest seems to be very 

 various. Yarrell says in some countries high trees 

 are chosen, and when this is the case the birds 

 associate together, something after the manner of 

 Herons; where no trees are to be found the nest 

 is placed amongst reeds or rushes, and is some- 

 times even built floating 011 the water : in whatever 



* Three or four sticklebacks were found in the throat, 

 and the remains of others, mixed with sand and silt, in the 

 gizzard, of one shot in Norfolk in May. ' Zoologist ' for 

 1866 (Second Series, p. 264). 



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