1098 PLATALEA LEUCORODIA . 



P. major. Turning westward to India again, it is distributed throughout Bengal towards Rajpootana and 

 Sindh, in which provinces, as well as in the surrounding region, it is more or less common. Mr. Hume met 

 with it in large flocks along the larger rivers of the Punjab, and on the Indus in Sindli ; but on the lakes and 

 broads it was not frequent. To the north of India I do not find it recorded by Dr. Scully from Kashgharia, 

 and in the Mongolian region it is, according to Prjevalsky, replaced by the Chinese bird. In Turkestan, writes 

 Severtzoff, it occurs on passage in cultivated districts up to 4000 feet, and breeds in the south-eastern and 

 north- western districts of the country. It extends northwards into Siberia; and Raddc met with examples in 

 the Ussuri country in the far east which, he says,. do not differ from the European bird. 



It is apparently rare in Palestine and Asia Minor, but is common, according to Von Nordmann, on the 

 shores of the Black Sea, as also along the Danube as far up as Hungary, in both of which districts it breeds. 

 It is also found on the Caspian. In Greece it occurs in large numbers on passage about the time of the 

 equinoctial gales; and Lord Lilford writes that it is common about Petala and the Gulf of Lepanto. It is 

 seen on migration in Malta and Sicily, but in Sardinia is common in the winter. In Tuscany, however, it is 

 met with chiefly in the spring. In Southern Spain it is a bird of passage likewise, being abundant in the 

 marshes of the Guadalquivir, where it occasionally breeds, according to Lord Lilford. It is a summer visitant 

 to Holland and Germany, but is mostly a bird of passage in France, and is now-a-days only a straggler in 

 summer to the British Isles, although in the early part of the last century it bred in the eastern counties. It 

 has been frequently obtained in Ireland as a stray visitor, and has occurred in Scotland, as also in the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands, and is now, according to Mr. R. Gray, an occasional visitor to the Hebrides. In Denmark and 

 Scandinavia it is very rare, although it wanders as far north as Lapland and Finland, and has even once 

 occurred near Archangel. Concerning its occurrence elsewhere in Russia Mr. Dresser writes : — " Sabanaeff 

 records it from the Government of Vladimir; and Bogdanoff met with it in the spring at Lizran. Sabanaeff 

 found it breeding on the skirts of the Shadrinsk and Cheliabiansk districts, and met with it as high as 56^° N. 

 lat." It is found in Poland, and is said to nest in the marshes of Silesia. Turning now from this outline of 

 the Spoonbill's distribution in Europe to the continent of Africa, we find it recorded by Favier as migrating 

 through Morocco in March, April, and May, and returning in October; but it is not found there in winter, 

 although Lochc speaks of it as occurring in Algeria at all seasons. Captain Shelley writes that it is plentiful 

 in Egypt and Nubia, while Von Heuglin met with it along the shores of the Red Sea and southward to the 

 Somauli coast; in the Dahlak archipelago he visited large breeding-colonies in June. Southward it is replaced 

 by the allied species, P. tenuirostris , which extends to Natal. I do not find it recorded from the west coast 

 of Africa ; but nevertheless it occurs in the Canaries as a visitor, and also in Madeira and the Azores. 



Habits. — From my experience of the Spoonbill in a state of nature I should say it was a very shy bird. 

 I found that when frightened away from their nests those which were met with near Tissa-Maha-Rama flew 

 round and round the tank, and crossed and recrosscd it, keeping high up in the air, but would not come near 

 the trees in which their nests were placed so long as I was there. It flies rapidly, with powerful strokes of 

 the wings, carrying its neck straight oiit. Small flocks, as I have observed them, fly together, but large 

 numbers, writes Von Heuglin, form a singular double line, or sometimes a triangle with unequal sides. When 

 perched on the tops of trees or resting on the ground the neck is gracefully curved and the body held tolerably 

 upright ; " while moving about in search of food," remarks Mr. Dresser, " it walks leisurely and slowly, and 

 lias a peculiarly grave and sedate gait, as if determined to quarter the ground in a thoroughly business-like 

 manner, and not to hurry itself." It is said byNaumann to have a deep note, and to be noisy at its breeding- 

 places; I did not hear it utter a sound at Uduwila. It makes a clattering noise with its bill, like the Stork. 

 Its food consists of insects, larvae, small Crustacea, frogs, &c. more than fish ; and when feeding in shallow 

 water it moves its bill from side to side, taking up its food with the curious spatule at the tip. 



The Spoonbill frequents marshes and the borders of freshwater lakes, tanks, and rivers. 



Nidification. — In the south-east of Ceylon this species breeds in March. Six or eight pairs were nesting 

 at Uduwila in 1872, the nests being placed on the same trees with those of the Pelican-Ibis; they were 

 situated low down, and in some cases small branches were bent down to form a foundation for the structures, 

 which were made of tolerably large sticks and were rather massive. The eggs, which were two in number, 



