WHITE SPOONBILL. 569 



to the end of the tail, about thirty-two inches ; of which, 

 the beak in an old male will measure near nine inches ; 

 from the carpal joint to the end of the wing fourteen inches 

 and a half; the first quill-feather not quite so long as the 

 fourth ; the second and third equal in length, rather longer 

 than the fourth, and the longest in the wing. 



The females are not so large at the same age as males, 

 and have a smaller occipital crest ; but they are not other- 

 wise dissimilar in plumage. 



In young birds the beak is not so large, it is softer in its 

 texture, more flexible and of a lighter colour ; the naked 

 parts about the head paler ; the irides ash colour ; the 

 shafts and the ends of the quill-feathers are black, and 

 there is no indication of the elongated occipital feathers, 

 which at mature age are borne by both sexes. 



The Spoonbill possesses a peculiarity of internal structure 

 much too interesting to be passed over. This bird is one 

 of the very few which has been found to possess no true 

 muscles of the organ of voice, and no modulation of a single 

 tone appears to be possessed by the bird. The figure in- 

 serted on the next page is a representation of part of the 

 inside of this bird, with the figure of 8 like convolutions of 

 its singular windpipe in the natural situation in front of the 

 lungs ; the insertion of the bronchiee into the lobe of the 

 lungs on each side is shown, but if compared with the re- 

 presentations of the organs of voice in birds at pages 71, 

 74 and 76 of the present volume, it will be seen that no 

 particular ossification at the junction of the bronchiae with 

 the bottom of the tube of the trachea exists, nor any mus- 

 cles by which variations in the length of the trachea or the 

 bronchia can be effected. In a young Spoonbill taken 

 from the nest, and examined by Willughby in reference to 

 this particular structure, which is said to have been first 



