PLATALEIDyE — THE SPOONBILLS — A JAJA. 



103 



Sp. Char. Adult: Head entirely bare. Xeck, Ijack, and breast, white ; tail orange-bull', tlie 

 shafts of tbe feathers deep pink, the inner webs inclining to pale pink. Rest of the plumage pale 

 rose-pink, the lesser wing-covert.s' region, and upper and lower tail-coverts, brilliant, intense car- 

 mine. Jugulum with a tuft of light carmine, somewhat twisted, or curled, narrow plumes. Sides 

 of the breast, at base of thi; wings (concealed by the latter), pale creamy buff. " Bill yellowish 

 gray at the base, mottled with brownish black, in the rest of its extent pale greenish blue, light on 

 the margins ; base of margin of lower mandible greenish yellow ; iris bright carmine ; feet pale 

 lake ; claws brownish black ; head yellowish green ; space around the eye and the gular sac 



orpiment-orange ; a band of black from the lower mandible to the occiput" (Audubon). Imma- 

 ture : Like the adult, but lacking the brilliant carmine of the lesser wing-coverts' region, tail- 

 coverts, etc., these portions being pale peach-blossom pink. Tail delicate peach-blossom pink, 

 instead of orange-buff. Nuchal and pectoral colored tufts absent. Ynumj : Head completely feath- 

 ered, except immediately around the base of the bill. Head, neck, back, and anterior lower parts 

 white, in some specimens more or less tinged, especially above,' with orange-buff ; wings, tail, and 

 posterior part of the body delicate pale peach-blossom pink, the shafts of the remiges and rectrices 

 deeper pink. Outer webs of alulie, outer primary-coverts, and wide borders to outer primaries 

 (principally on outer webs), clear snuff-brown. 



[Note. — We have not seen the young in down, nor when first feathered. The latter is 

 described by Audubon as follows ; — "The young, . . . when able to fly, . . . are grayish white. 

 The bill is then quite smooth, of a yellowish-green color, as are the legs and feet, as well as the 

 skin on part of the head. Young birds in their second year have the wings and the lower wing- 

 coverts of a pale roseate tint, the bill more richly colored, and the legs and feet dark brownish red 

 or purj)lish. At this age they are iuiadorne<l with the curling feathers on the breast ; liut in the 

 third spring the bird is perfect, although it increases in size for several seasons after."] 



Length, about 28.00-31.00; exp.anse, 48.00-53.00; wing, 14.10-15.30; tail, 4.20-5.20; cul- 

 men, 6.20-7.15 ; width of bill, 2.00-2.20 ; tarsus, 3.75-4.65 ; middle toe, 2.95-3.35 ; bare portion 

 of tibia, 2.80-3.20. 



All the American .Spoonbills examined l)y us appear to belong to a single species. Mr. W. H. 

 Hudson, however, who resided for a numlier of years in Bueiios Ayres, entertained the belief that 

 there are two species of Spoonbills in that country ; ami, without at all shaving in this belief, we 

 submit his arguments in its favor, as follows : — 



"lu reference to the Rose-colored Spoonbills of America, I believe ornithologists have been 

 mistaken in refen'ing them all to one species. 



"Whether two or only one species existed was a moot question a century ago ; it has been 

 decided that there is Init one, the Phdale.a ajaja, and that the paler-plumaged birds, with feathered 

 heails and black eyes, and without the liright wing-spots, tbe tuft on the breast, horny excrescences 

 on the beak, and other marks, are only immature birds. Now it is quite possible the young of 

 P. ajaja resembles the common Rose-colored Spoonbill of Buenos Ayres ; but in that country, for 

 one bird with all the characteristic marks of an adult P. ajaja, we meet with not less, I am sure, 

 than two or three hundred examples of the paler bird without any trace of such marks. 



" This fact of itself might incline one to believe that there are two distinct species, and that the 

 common Platalea of Buenos AjTes inhabits the temperate regions south of the range of tbe true 

 P. ajaja. 



^ Qu. An accidental stain ! 



