SPOONBILLS 217 



Nest, in colonies on mud flats, a truncate cone of mud 8-14 inches in 

 height, hollowed on top. Egg, I, whitish with a chalky deposit, 3'55 x 2'20. 

 Date, Andros Is., Bahamas, May 5. 



The Flamingo was formerly a regular winter visitant to the vast 

 shoals at the extremity of Florida, but it is now of rare occurrence 

 there. (Scott, Auk, VII, pp. 221-226; Ingraham, World's Congress in 

 Orn., pp. 59-69.) There are probably two large breeding colonies on 

 Andros Island, Bahamas. The nests are placed within a few feet of 

 each other, 2,000 being counted in a space one hundred and thirty 

 yards long. Both sexes incubate. The period of incubation is about 

 four weeks. The young are hatched covered with down and leave the 

 nest when two or three days old. They are fed by regurgitation on the 

 partially digested juices of a small mollusk of the genus Cerithium, 

 which forms apparently the only food of the adult. The note of the 

 young is a shrill whistling, that of the adult a goose-like honking. 

 In flight the neck is fully extended. 



1902. CHAPMAN, F. M., Bird-Lore, IV, 177-181. 1908. Camps and 

 Cruises, 155-191 (nesting habits). 



VII. ORDER HERODIONES. HERONS, STORKS, IBISES, ETC. 



17. FAMILY PLATALEID^E. SPOONBILLS. (Fig. 38.) 



The Spoonbills inhabit the warmer parts of the world. Only one 

 of the six species is found in America. They frequent the shores both 

 on the seacoast and in the interior. They are generally found in flocks 

 and they nest in colonies. Spoonbills have the general habits of Ibises, 

 but feed by immersing the bill and swinging it from side to side in their 

 search for food. They fly with the neck fully extended, and with steady, 

 uninterrupted wing-stroke. 



183. Ajaia ajaja (Linn.). ROSEATE SPOONBILL. (Fig. 38.) Ads. 

 Head and throat bare, neck and upper back white, sometimes tinged with 

 pink; sides of breast in front of the wings and end half of tail ochraceous- 

 buff ; rest of plumage pink; lengthened feathers at the base of the neck darker; 

 lesser wing-coverts, upper and under tail-coverts carmine. Im. Similar, 

 but head and throat feathered, ochraceous-buff and carmine of the adult 

 replaced by pink. L., 32'00; W., 14'50; Tar., 4'00; B., 6'25. 



Range. N. and S. A., from Tex., La., Fla., and Ga. s. to Patagonia 

 and the Falkland Islands; formerly casual north to Pa. and the lower Ohio 

 Valley (Ind. and Ills.); accidental in Calif., Colo., Kans., and Wise. 



Nest, in colonies, a platform of sticks in small trees, usually about 10 

 feet up. Eggs, 3-5, white, spotted and speckled with shades of olive-brown, 

 2-57 x 1-73. Date, Marquesas Key, Fla., Jan. 11, 1883; s. Fla., Mch. 11; 

 Tamiahua Lagoon, Vera Cruz, Apl. 17, second plumage well grown. 



There are probably not more than a few hundred Spoonbills existing 

 in Eastern North America, and they are confined to the southern part 

 of Florida. The Spoonbill's flight is rather ibislike, the neck being fully 

 extended, but the wing-strokes are not interrupted by short sails. The 



