SPOONBILL. d 



The eggs are three or four in number, about the size of those of 

 a Hen,* white, with a few pale red spots. The Spoonbill is found in 

 the temperate parts of Russia, and Siberia, and beyond the Lake 

 Baikal : changes its situation at different times of the year, more 

 southward in winter. It is also a native of India. In respect to 

 England, it is only an occasional visitant; rarely on the coast of 

 Norfolk, but in the year 1773, in April, a flock of them was seen 

 about Yarmouth, in the marshes :f has appeared, now and then, on 

 the coast of Devonshire ; the last instance communicated by Dr. 

 Wave!!, who informed me that one was shot near Axminster, in 

 December, 1822. And the late Mr. Boys mentioned one having 

 been killed some years since, on the Kentish coast, near Sandwich. 

 They are said to be very noisy during the breeding time, like the 

 Rooks: chiefly frequent the mouths of rivers, rarely being found high 

 up the stream. The food is fish, and they are accused of taking it 

 by force from other birds, in the manner of the Bald Eagle. Will 

 feed also on muscles, and other shell fish, and are mostly found where 

 these are in plenty. Said to devour frogs and snakes ; as well as 

 grass and weeds, which grow in the water, in defect of other food. 

 The flesh is thought to resemble most that of a Goose in flavour, and 

 eaten by many ; but the young birds are most esteemed. By some 

 authors this bird is called a Pelican. 



Buffon mentions, that the trachea is similar in formation to that 

 of the Crane, $ but although it is bent, much in the same manner, it 

 does not enter the keel of the sternum as in that bird. § 



A better comparison might be made with that of Demoiselle, or 

 Numidian Crane, || which it much resembles; for it has adouble bend 



* In Sepp they are pure white, placed on a layer of dry sedges, and green leaves. 



f One mentioned by Dr. Thomas Brown, the year not said. He was knighted in 1671, 

 and died in 1682, and of course must have been between those two dates. 



X La Trachee artere est semblable a celle de la Grue, et fait dans le thorax une double 

 inflexion. — Ois. vii. 454. 



§ Lin. Trans, iv. pi. xii. f. 4. || Lin. Trans, iv. pi. x. f. 4. 



B 2 



