26 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



their not very well chosen appellation. So slight, 

 indeed, is the difference between them in other essen- 

 tial points, that were we to set aside the form of tlie 

 bill and the greater developement of the web which 

 unites the anterior toes of the Spoonbills, we should 

 look in vain for any other characters of sufficient 

 importance to establish a generic distinction between 

 them. 



The beak of the Spoonbills is proportionally some- 

 what longer even than that of the Storks ; it is 

 perfectly straight, flattened both above and below, 

 broad, flexible, and covered at its base with a mem- 

 branous cere. Towards the extremity it expands into 

 an oval disk, of greater breadth than tlie remainder of 

 the bill, and rounded at the point. The nostrils form 

 two narrow oval fissures within the cere at the base 

 of the upper mandible, which is slightly grooved on 

 either side by a longitudinal furrow, and terminates 

 in a trifling hook. On the inside the mandibles are 

 channelled, the margins of the channel being raised, 

 and surmounted by a row of sharp projecting denticu- 

 lations. In the adult bird the cheeks are naked, and 

 a tuft of long narrow feathers forms a crest on the 

 back of the head. The tongue is exceedingly short, 

 triangular, and pointed ; the throat capable of being 

 dilated into a pouch ; the legs long and covered with 

 large reticulated scales ; the toes four in number, the 

 three anterior united for a considerable distance by a 

 web which is continued, in the shape of a fringe, to 

 their very extremities, and the posterior resting upon 

 the ground for nearly its whole length ; the claws 

 short, narrow, slightly curved, and pointed ; and the 

 second quill-feather the longest. 



The White Spoonbill is the only certain species of 

 the group that inhabits the Old Continent. In com- 



