PLATALEID^ : SPOONBILLS. 651 



or upright living ones, about a foot in diameter and nearly as deep, well cupped, thus unlike 

 the frail platforms herons build. Eggs 3-4, rarely 6, deep bluish-green, not elliptical, from 

 1.72 X 1.30 to 2.20 X 1.50, averaging 1.99 X 1.43. 



EUDO'CIMUS. (Gr. eiSoiu/xof, well-tried, -approved, famous.) White Ibis. Scarlet 

 Ibis. General character of Plegadis. Pace more denuded, with whole cliin bare (in the adults). 

 Claws stout, obtuse, curved. Plumage not motaUic. Color white or red. Eggs spotted (in 

 E. albus at least). 



E. al'bus. (Lat. aiftMS, white.) White Ibis. Spanish Curlew. Adult (J ? : Plumage pure 

 white ; tips of several outer primaries glossy black. Bare face and most of bill, and legs orange, 

 red, or carmine ; bill tipped with dusky. Iris pearly blue. Length about 26.00 ; extent 40.00 ; 

 wing 11.50-12.50; tail 5.00; bill 5.00-7.00; tarsus 3.50; middle too and claw 2.50. Sexes 

 alike ; 9 averaging smaller. Young : DuU brown, rump and under parts white ; bare parts of 

 head of less extent, yellowish, bill the same ; legs bluish ; iris brown. Younger : Dull brown all 

 (jver, with whitish rump and gray tail. S. Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to the Ohio, rarely to 

 the Middle States, casually to New England ; W. to Texas ; resident in Florida. Breeds in 

 communities by thousands in tangle and brake and tule of the S. coast ; nest similar to that 

 above described, but of twigs, etc. Eggs 3, 2.25 X 1-60, dull chalky white, blotched and 

 spotted with pale yellowish and dark reddish-brown. 



E. ru'ber. (Lat. ruber, red.) Scarlet Ibis. Adult ^ ? : Plumage scarlet ; tips of several 

 outer primaries glossy black. Bare parts of head, biU, and legs pale lake red. Young brownish- 

 gray, darker above, paler or whitish below. Size and proportions nearly as in the last. This 

 splendid creature is a native of Tropical America : accidental in the U. S. (Seen at a distance, 

 not procured, Louisiana, July, 1821, Audubon; fragment of a specimen examined, Los Pinos, 

 N. M., on the Rio Grande, June, 1864, Goues ; "Florida," specimen in Museum of Charleston 

 College, S. C, Brewster.) 



4A. Family PLATALEID^ -. Spoonbills. 



Bill long, flat, remarkably widened, rounded, and spoon-shaped at the end. Birds of tliis 

 group are known at a glance, by the singularity of the bill ; they closely reseuible the foregoing 

 iu structure and habit, being simply spoon-billed Ibises. Two genera, with five or six species 

 of various countries. The American genus differs notably from the type of Platalea, in having 

 the trachea snnple, bifurcating into the bnnichi high in the neck; the bronchi with fusiform 

 partly membranous dilatation before entering the thorax. In Platalea leucorodia (fig. 454) the 

 trachea is peculiarly convoluted within the thorax. 



Aja'ja. (Vox barb., S. Am.) American Spoonbills. Character as above said. In addi- 

 tion : Head entirely bald, in tlie adult. Tliroat somewhat pouched. Nostrils basal, linear- 

 oblong. Tibife and tarsi reticulate with hexagonal plates. Toes scmipalmate ; hind toe well 

 down. Tail of 12 feathers. Bill broader than head at the greatest width of the spoon. A 

 lateral groove the whole length of the upper mandible. A nail at end of bill ; much of l)ill 

 rugous and skinny. A recurved tuft, of feathers on the foreneck below. Colors white and red. 

 Sexes alike ; young different. One species. 



A. ro'sea. (Lat. rosea, roseate.) Roseate Spoonbill. Adult ^ 9 : Ground color white • 

 back and wings delicate rose-color ; under parts more rosy ; plumes of the lower fore-neck, 

 lesser wing-coverts, upper and under tail-coverts, rich carmine ; shafts i>{ wing- and tail-feathers 

 carmine. Tail brownish-yellow, and a patch of the same color on the sides of the breast ; neck 

 white. Bald head varied with green, yellow, orange, and black ; bill varied with greenish, 

 bluish, yellowish, and blackish tints. Legs lake red. Iris carmine. Claws blackish. Length 

 31.00-35.00; extent 50.00-55.00; wing 15.00-16.00; tail 4.00-5.00; bill 7.00, 2 inches' or 

 more across the spoon ; tibia bare 3.00 ; tarsus 4.00 ; middle toe and claw 3.50 ; hind do. 



