198 THE BIRDS OF DEVON. 



Haven, and seven more in the winter of ISSo. Two or three are said to 

 be seen about Pembroke every year. Bat, on either side of England, 

 adults in their full pluma.^'e are extremely rare, the larger proportion of 

 those obtained being in immafure plumage, without the yellowish-white 

 occipital plumes. The Spoonbill occurs very seldom in Xorth Devon, two 

 immature examples, which were obtained on the Xortham Burrows, being 

 the only ones of which we have knowledge. 



The food of the Spoonbill consists of small fish, frogs, &c., and in search 

 of these it works its curious bill from side to side in a scooping fashion. 

 It rarely strays far inland, feeding for the most part upon the shore or on 

 the edges of large lagoons in marshes. 



Montagu mentions two specimens which were shot near Kingsbridge, one immature 

 in Nov. 180-1, and an old female IfUh March 1807 (Orn. Diet., Siippl.). One on the 

 Tamar. anotlier on the Exe ; and one killed on Millbrook Lake (E. M., Trans. Plvm. 

 Inst. 1830 ; Rowe's Peramb. Dartmoor, 1848, Appendix, p. 234). One shot in 18.3.5 on 

 tlie Tamar, and one in 18'i8, both in the montli of December (J. C. B., Nat. Ili^t. S. 

 Devon, p. lilO). One en the Warren Sands at E.xraouth, Dec. 1847 {\V. R. S., Zool. 

 1840, ]). 2;j><5). Two between 1840 and 1847 at Kingsbridge (H. N., Zool. 1847, 

 J). lO'ji). One at Bridford, whilst feeding with a flock of Geese in Dec. 1849 CR. C, 

 and ' Exeter Grazette '). Two immature birds at Exmouth, at end of Dec. 18,53 ; one 

 of these is in the A. M. M. One at Slapton Ley. Nov. 12th, 18.58 (H. N., MS. Note-), 

 and one in Dec. 18.58, at Plvmouth (Zool. 18.59, p. 6377). Three immature birds at 

 the latter locality, Nov. 3rd,'l862 (J. G., Zool. 18(13, p. 8330). Bolitho had one from 

 tlie St. Germans River in Cornwall, not far from the border of Devon, April (ith, 

 18(i7. One immature specimen occurred at North:im Bui-rows, North Devon, Oct. 2()th, 

 18^)7 (Zool. 18(J7, p. 1017). An immature bird was killed on the banks of the St. 

 Germans River, Oct. 14th, 1870, and another in Sept. 1878, on the Tavy (J. G., Zool. 

 1877, p. 44 ; 1878, p. 43). One at Northam Burrows at the end of Nov. 1879 i Zool. 

 1880, p. 70). One on St. Germans River, near Plymouth, Nov. 1883 (Thos. Cornish, 

 Zool. 1883, p. 495). A young female on the Avon, between the weir and Aveton Giffurd 

 Bridge, Nov. 4th. 1884" (E. A. S. E., Zool. 188.5, p. 29). A fine adult specimen in the 

 Collection of the late Mr. Byne, afterwards the property of the late Mr. Marsh-Dunn 

 at Teignmouth, is said to have been obtained on the estuary of the Exe. 



The Spoonbill has frequently visited Cornwall ; in Somerset only two 

 instances are recorded ; in Dorsetshire several have been obtained in various 

 years in Poole Harbour, 



In ' The Ibis ' for 1887, p. 412, there is an interesting account of a visit 

 paid by Mes.srs. Sclater and Forbes to a great breeding-place of the Spoonbill 

 at the Hor.ster Meer, between Amsterdam and Utrecht, where there were 

 several thousand nests placed upon the swampy ground. 



Glossy Ibis. Plegadis falcinellus (Linn.). 



An accidental visitor, of rare occurrence, in the autumn. 

 From the old lines quoted by Mr. Stevenson — 



" The Curlew, be she white or black, 

 Carries twelvepence on her back,"^ 



we may infer that the Glossy Ibis, which also went by the name of the 

 Black Curlew, was more commonly met with formerly, and was better 

 known to the race of shore-shooters, than it is at the present time. It is 

 n curious, almost a grotesque-looking bird, and is to-day only an accidental 



