2 SPOONBILL. 



Spoonbill, or Pelican, Alb. ii. pi. 66. Will. Engl. 288. t. 52. Kolb. Cap. ii. 142. pi. 



7. f. 5. Ray's Trav. p. 38. 

 White Spoonbill, Gen. Syn.v. p. 13. Br. Zool. App. pi. 9. Id. Ed. 1812. ii. p. 3. 



pi. 1. Arct. Zool. ii. 441. A. Id. Sup. 66. Beivick, ii. pi. in p. 25. 



LENGTH two feet eight inches ; weight three pounds and a 

 quarter. Bill from six to eight inches long, very flat, and broadens 

 sat the extremity into the shape of a spoon, in colour not always the 

 same; in some black, in others brown, and in a few spotted; from 

 the base to two-thirds of the length crossed with several indentations, 

 the rising parts of which are darker coloured ; tongue short, and 

 heart-shaped ; irides reddish ; lore, round the eyes, and throat bare, 

 and black ; the skin of the last very dilatable. The whole plumage 

 is white ; the feathers of the head more or less elongated, and in old 

 birds so long as to give the appearance of a crest ; in the adult like- 

 wise, there is a rufous yellow tinge on the breast, and the bare parts 

 round the eyes and throat are yellowish, inclining to red ; the legs 

 dusky, or greyish brown ; the toes connected at the base with a mem- 

 brane, between the outer and middle one to the second joint, and to 

 the inner as far as the first. 



In young birds the shafts of the quills are black, and some of 

 the outer ones black at the ends. 



The female chiefly differs, in being smaller than the male. This 

 bird is found in various parts of the Old Continent, from the Ferroe 

 Isles, near Iceland, to the Cape of Good Hope,* chiefly near the 

 sea ; met with on the Coasts of France and once in great numbers; 

 at a village called Sevenhuys, not far from Leyden, in Holland, in 

 a certain grove ; where they built, and bred yearly, on the tops of 

 high trees, in company with Herons, Night Herons, Shags, Corvo- 

 rants, &c. and the owner, when the birds were fit, with a hook at 

 the end of a long pole, catching the bough with the nest, shook out 

 the young, f 



* Common about Sea-Cow River. — Barrow. 



t Willughby. No doubt before the young birds could fly ; the young Rooks, of the 

 same age, are eaten in this kingdom. The wood has been long since destroyed. — See also 

 Ray's Trav. p. 38. 



