74 ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 



when, after having seen three of these precious birds alight on their feeding 

 grounds, about a quarter of a mile from where I stood, I managed, after 

 something short of half an hour, to get within shot of them. Then, after 

 viewing them for awhile unseen, I touched one of my triggers, and two of 

 them fell upon the surface of the shallow water. The other might, I believe, 

 have been as easily shot, for it stood, as I have seen Wild Turkey cocks do 

 on like occasions, looking with curious intensity as it were upon its 

 massacred friends, until, seeing me get up and wade towards them, it 

 hurriedly extended its broad wings, and flew off" towards the sea-shore. 

 When wounded in the wing, they make towards deeper water, and, if 

 closely pursued, will swim to some distance, but without ever attempting to 

 dive, and when at last seized, offer no resistance. On the contrary, if their 

 wings are uninjured, though they may otherwise be severely wounded, they 

 rise and fly to a great distance, or drop while on the way. I have considered 

 these birds as tough to kill, and, when on open ground, even without being 

 in company with Herons, as difficult of approach. They are as nocturnal 

 as the night Heron, and, although they seek for food at times during the 

 middle of the day, their principal feeding time is from near sunset until 

 daylight. To all such feeding grounds as are exposed to the tides, they 

 betake themselves when it is low water, and search for food along the 

 shallow margins until driven off by the returning tide. Few birds are 

 better aware of the hours at which the waters are high or low, and when it 

 is near ebb you see them wending their way to the shore. Whenever a 

 feeding place seems to be productive, the Spoonbills are wont to return to it 

 until they have been much disturbed, and persons aware of this fact may 

 waylay them with success, as at such times one may shoot them w T hile 

 passing over head. To procure their food, the Spoonbills first generally 

 alight near the water, into which they then wade up to the 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 ascertain 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 swallowing them. When there are many together, one 

 usually acts as sentinel, unless a Heron should be near; and in either case 

 you may despair of approaching them. I have never seen one of these birds 

 feeding 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. 



