60 BRITISH BIRDS. 



(S)f ft)c Spoonbill. 



THE bill is very broad, long, flat, and thin, the 

 end widening into a roundish form not unlike a 

 spoon; nostrils small, and placed near the base; 

 tongue small, and pointed, and the feet semi- 

 palmated. 



Of this genus only three species are known, and 

 these are thinly dispersed over various parts of the 

 globe. Their common residence is on the sea- 

 shores, or the contiguous fens and swamps which 

 are occasionally overflowed by the tide, or on such 

 low marshy coasts as are constantly covered Avith 

 stagnant pools of water. These places they very 

 seldom quit, but sometimes are seen by the sides of 

 lakes or rivers in the interior parts of the country. 

 They feed on various kinds of little fishes, and 

 shell-fish, which they swallow whole; also on 

 worms, insects, frogs, and the various other inhabi- 

 tants of the slimy pools, through which they wade, 

 and search the mud with their curiously constructed 

 bills; and sometimes they eat the weeds, grasses* 

 and roots which grow in those boggy places. 



