PLATIBIS FLA VI PES (<;<>„/</). 



YELLO W-LE< / ( IK I) SPOOMiILL Gkni s : Platibis. 



/ iOl lil) lias a short hut interesting paper on this bird, from which more can he deduced than he was 

 * * able actually to verity. Visiting Liverpool Plains during the wet season of 1839, he was struck 

 with the numerous Hocks of Yellow-Legged Spoonbills that seemed to have taken possession of every 

 lagOOIl and creek in the district, along with many other rare birds, particularly the Straw-Necked and 

 White Ibises, with which it was associated. This was the more singular as, in his previous visit during 

 a drought, not one of these birds was observed. lie inferred very reasonably that the rains had brought 

 in their train those aquatic insects and shelled niollusks that are the principal foods of these different 

 birds. He speaks of the Fhirijx's as "shy and distrustful, and it was not without a considerable degree 

 of caution and niaiKcuvring that I could ever approach sufficiently near to make successful shots. I 

 occasionally met with it singly, but more frequently in pairs, or in small companies of from six to eight. 

 When not occupied in procuring food, which it does while skirting the edge of the lagoon, or by wading 

 knee-deep among the grasses and rushes, it may be seen reposing on the dead branches of the highest 

 trees growing m ar the water, frequently standing on one leg, with the head drawn back and the bill 

 resting on the breast. When thus situated, an approach sufficiently near to procure specimens is almost 

 imp< >s>il>le." 



The egg is white, long, and tapering towards the smaller end; the surface of the shell roughly 

 ami minutely indented all over. Length, 2 13 / 1(i inches; breadth, l 18 / M inch. 



In appearance the female is slightly smaller than the male. 



The entire plumage is a dull creamy-white, with the exception of the outer edge of the tertiaries, 

 w hich are black ; face, white, and devoid of feathers, and bounded by a narrow line of black ; bill, primrose- 

 yellow, passing into flesh-pink at the base ; h ides, straw-white ; legs and feet, yellow ; nails, black. 



Total length, 28 inches. 



Habitats : Rockingham Bay. Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence River Districts, New 

 South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia. (ft"ms«ij.) 



