ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 75 



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 of 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 perfect, 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 my friend Edward Harris, 

 and to my son, that I thought the eggs and nests of which I speak were 

 those of the Roseate Spoonbill and not of the Herons. What rendered the 

 fact doubtful, however, was, that no Spoonbills were to be seen, as they had 

 all betaken themselves to flight on hearing the reports of our guns. 



In connection with the procuring of some of these birds, I find a rather 

 curious occurrence recorded in my journal. On the 2nd of May, 1S37, my 

 party and I went on shore from the Revenue Cutter '-'Campbell," on the 

 island of Galveston, for the purpose of obtaining fish and prawns, the latter 

 of which are in that country extremely abundant, and certainly the largest I 

 have ever seen. Our fishing over, we were on the point of returning, when 

 we saw three Spoonbills alight on a sand-bar, and almost immediately 

 proceed to the water in search of food. My son was despatched after them, 

 and having waded through some muddy parts of the inlet on the shore of 

 which we were standing, he succeeded in getting near, and killed the finest 

 of the three. Almost at the same instant, the back fins of a large fish, 

 resembling those of a shark, were seen meandering above the surface of the 

 shallow waters. My son received prompt intelligence of this, to enable him 

 to make good his return. The monster moved about rather slowly, and 

 John having rammed home a couple of bullets, lodged them in its body, on 



