Spoons. GRALLATORES. PLATALEA. 51 
near to, and connects it with, that of Natatores. The birds 
of this genus breed in high trees, in the vicinity of the rivers 
or lakes they frequent; or, in failure of these, in the reeds 
and aquatic herbage of extensive marshes. Their moulting 
is simple, and the young do not acquire the adult plumage 
before the third year. Three species are known, each pos- 
sessing a distinct geographical disposition, viz. the White 
Spoonbill (S. Platalea leucorodia), inhabiting Europe and 
continental Asia; S. Plaialea ajaja, confined to America; and 
another, which is found in the Philippine and other Asiatic 
Islands. 
WHITE SPOONBILL. 
PrarTaLed LEucoRopDIA, Linn. 
PLATE X. 
Platalea leucorodia, Linn. Syst. 1. 231. 1.—Gmel. Syst. 1. 613.—Lath. 
Ind. Ornith. 2. 667. 1.—Shaw’s Zool. 11. 642. pl. 52. in the immature 
plumage.—Lesson, Man. 2. 246. 
Platea seu Pelecanus, Aldrov., Raii Syn. 102. 1.—Briss. 5. 352. 1. 
Le Spatule, Buff: Ois. 7. 448. 
Spatule blanche, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. 595. 
Wiesser Loffler, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 4. t. 17. 
Platalea nivea, Cuv. Reg. Anim. 1. p. 482. 
Spoonbill or Pelican, Will. (Angl.) 288. t. 52. 
White Spoonbill, Br. Zool. App. t. 9.—Arct. Zool. 2. 441. A.—Id. Sup. 
66.—Lath. Syn. 5. 13. 1.—Mont. Ornith. Dict. and Sup.—Shaw’s Zool. 
11. 642. pl. 52.—Bewick’s Br. Birds, 2. t. p. 25. 
Tue visits of this singular bird to our shores are uncer- Rare 
tam, and frequently at distant intervals. PrENNANT men- vistas 
tions a flock that appeared in the marshes near Yarmouth, 
in April 1774; and Monracu states, that it had sometimes 
been seen, during winter, on the coast of South Devon. 
This indeed is corroborated afterwards (in the Supplement 
to his Ornithological Dictionary), by the fact of his receiving 
two specimens from that part of England, the first killed in 
1p 
