ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 191 
tibia, and immerse their bills in the water or soft mud, sometimes 
with the head and even the whole neck beneath the surface. They 
frequently withdraw these parts however, and look around to ascer- 
tain if danger is near. They move their partially opened mandibles 
laterally to and fro with a considerable degree of elegance, munching 
the fry, insects, or small shell-fish, which they secure, before swallow- 
ing them. When there are many together, one usually acts as senti- 
nel, unless a Heron should be near; and in either case you may des- 
pair of approaching them. I have never seen one of these birds feed- 
ing in fresh water, although I have been told that this is sometimes 
the case. To all those keys in the Floridas in which ponds have been 
dug for the making of salt, they usually repair in the evening for the 
purpose of feeding ; but the shallow inlets in the great salt marshes of 
our southern coasts are their favourite places of resort. 
The Roseate Spoonbills alight on trees with as much facility as 
Herons, and even walk on their large branches. They usually nestle on 
the tops of the mangroves, placing their nests at the distance of a few 
yards from each other. They are formed 6f sticks of considerable size 
and are flat, like most of those of the Heron tribe. The eggs are laid 
about the middle of April, and are usually three. They measure two 
inches and five-eighths in length, an inch and seven-eighths in their 
greatest breadth, are slightly granulated, almost equally rounded at 
both ends, and have a pure white colour. I have never seen the young 
when recently hatched ; but when able to fly they are greyish-white. 
The bill is then quite smooth, of a yellowish-green colour, 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 coloured, and the legs and feet dark 
brownish-red, or purplish. At this age, they are unadorned with the 
curling feathers on the breast ; but in the third spring the bird is per- 
fect, although it increases in size for several seasons after. I have never 
seen one of these birds of the bright red colour assigned to them by 
some authors. 
While on one of the islands of Galveston Bay in Texas, I found 
eight or ten nests of these birds, placed in low cactuses, amid some 
hundreds of nests belonging to Herons of different species, but was not 
rendered aware of the fact until I compared the eggs found there with 
those procured in the Floridas, although I did at the time mention to 
