PLATALEID^: SPOONBILLS. 
651 
or upright living ones, about a foot in diameter and nearly as deep, well cupped, thus unlike 
the frail platforms herons build. Eggs 3-4, rarely 5, deep bluish-green, not elliptical, from 
1.72 X 1.30 to 2.20 X 1.50, averaging 1.99 X 1.42. 
253. EUDO'CIMUS. (Gr. evdoKifios, well-tried, approved, famous.) White Ibis. Scarlet 
Ibis. General character of Plegadis. Face more denuded, with whole chin bare (in the adults). 
Glaws stout, obtuse, curved. Plumage not metallic. Color white or red. Eggs spotted (in 
E. albiis at least). 
651. E. al'bus. (Lat. aZ&MS, white.) White Ibis. Spanish Curlev^^. Adult 9 : Plumage pure 
white ; tips of several outer primaries glossy black. Bare face and most of bill, and legs orange, 
red, or carmine ; bill tipped with dusky. Iris pearly blue. Length about 26.00 ; extent 40.00 ; 
wing 11.50-12.50; tail 5.00; bill 5.00-7-00; tarsus 3.50; middle toe and claw 2.50. Sexes 
alike ; 9 averaging smaller. Young : Dull brown, rump and under parts white ; bare parts of 
head of less extent, yellowish, bill the same ; legs bluish ; iris brown. Younger : Dull brown aU 
over, witli whitish rump and gray tail. S. Atlantic and Gulf States, N. to the Ohio, rarely to 
the Middle States, casually to New England ; W. to Texas ; resident in Florida. Breeds in 
communities by thousands in tangle and brake and tule of the S. coast ; nest similar to that 
above described, but of twigs, etc. Eggs 3, 2.25 X 1.60, dull chalky white, blotched and 
spotted with pale yellowish and dark reddish-brown. 
653. E, ru'ber. (Lat. rube?', red.) Scarlet Ibis. Adult ^ 9 Plumage scarlet ; tips of several 
outer primaries glossy black. Bare parts of head, bill, and legs pale lake red. Young brownish- 
gray, darker above, paler or whitish below. Size and proportions nearly as in the last. This 
splendid creature is a native of Tropical America : accidental in the U. S. (Seen at a distance, 
not procured, Louisiana, July, 1821, Audubon; fragment of a specimen examined, Los Pinos, 
N. M., on the Rio Grande, June, 1864, Coues ; Florida," specimen in Museum of Charleston 
College, S. C, Brewster.) 
44. Family PLATALEID : Spoonbills. 
Bill long, flat, remarkably widened, rounded, and spoon- shaped at the end. Birds of this 
group are known at a glance, by the singularity of the bill ; they closely resemble the foregoing 
in structure and habit, being simply spoon-billed Ibises. Two genera, with five or six species 
of various countries. The American genus difi'ers notably from the type of Platalea, in having 
the trachea simple, bifurcating into the bronchi high in the neck ; the bronchi with fusiform 
partly membranous dilatation before entering the thorax. In Platalea leucorodia (fig. 454) the 
trachea is peculiarly convoluted within the thorax. 
254. Aja'ja. (Vox barb., S. Am.) American Spoonbills. Character as above said. In addi- 
tion : Head entirely bald, in the adult. Throat somewhat pouched. Nostrils basal, linear- 
oblong. Tibiae and tarsi reticulate with hexagonal plates. Toes semipalmate ; hind toe well 
down. Tail of 12 feathers. Bill broader than head at the greatest width of the spoon. A 
lateral groove the whole length of the upper mandible. A nail at end of bill ; much of bill 
rugous and skinny. A recurved tuft of feathers on the foreneck below. Colors white and red. 
Sexes alike ; young different. One species. 
653. A. ro'sea. (Lat. rosea, roseate.) Roseate Spoonbill. Adult $ 9 ' Ground color white ; 
back and wings delicate rose-color ; under parts more rosy ; plumes of the lower fore-neck, 
lesser wing-coverts, upper and under tail-coverts, rich carmine ; shafts of wing- and tail-feathers 
carmine. Tail brownish -yellow, and a patch of the same color on the sides of the breast ; neck 
white. Bald head varied with green, yellow, orange, and black ; bill varied with greenish, 
bluish, yellowish, and blackish tints. Legs lake red. Iris carmine. Claws blackish. Length 
31.00-35.00; extent 50.00-55.00; wing 15.00-16.00; tail 4.00-5.00; bill 7.00, 2 inches or 
more across the spoon ; tibia bare 3.00 ; tarsus 4.00 ; middle toe and claw 3.50 ; hind do. 
