SPOONBILL. 
PLATALEA LEUCORODIA. 
Many old gunners can remember the time when flocks of these birds were far from uncommon during 
spring on the marshes and mud-banks round our coasts ; in decreasing numbers they still, however, make 
their appearance nearly every season about the middle of May along the flat country between the 
mouths of the Humber and the Thames. Their visits to the southern counties are less frequent, 
though I have seen both adults and immature procured in Sussex ; during the past ten years sevei’al 
young birds, minus the crest and the black and white markings on the bills, were shot in the months 
of September and October in the neighbourhood of Shoreham Harbour and Pevensey Level. The marshes 
in the vicinity of the south coast appear more in the line of the autumnal migration of this species than 
the flat shores of the eastern counties. 
A Spoonbill, when settled upon a mud-bank where food is plentiful, may generally be approached 
within gunshot. On the 20th of May, 1871, shortly after daybreak, I watched one feeding on the 
muds on Breydon for two or throe hours ; though the sun was shining, a thick fog at the time hung 
over the flats, rendering objects at any distance indistinct and hazy. The punt being concealed in one of 
the drains *, the bird had not the slightest suspicion of danger and continued searching the grass and 
weeds in the shallow pools for food. At times I remarked the bill wms w'orked sideways, and its actions 
strongly resembled those of a Duck stirring up the mud round the edge of a puddle. I could gain no 
further insight into its manner of feeding, as it did not approach within fifty yards, and the mist prevented 
the movements of the head and bill being clearly discerned. As the tide rose the bird made its way 
to the edge of the mam channel, and the fog gradually clearing off, the sun broke through, when two 
or three noisy Gulls w^ere attracted by the appearance of the stranger. There was little chance that 
any further observations could now be made, so I secured the specimen, which proved to be a female in 
fair plumage, by a charge from the punt-gun. 
On several occasions I noticed the Black-headed Gulls greatly excited by the sight of a Spoonbill, 
numbers flying screaming round and seldom allowing the unfortunate bird a moment’s peace. A male 
I shot near Yarmouth, m May 1873, had frequented the north and south marshes wuthin a few miles 
of the town for ten days or a fortnight; and evidently entertaining a strong desire to reach the 
attractive muds f of Breydon, the bird at every opportunity attempted to alight on the flats. So persistently 
however, was the persecution carried out by these noisy birds, that to settle for any length of time was 
utterly impossible; in a few minutes after his appearance the watchful Gulls collected, and the wanderer 
was compelled to quit the spot and seek the solitude of the marshes. It was only by waiting near his 
* The Breydon gunners invariably bestow this unsavoury title on the channels that run through the mudflats. 
t There is a saj ing among the old Breydon gunners that when once Spoonbills have “ tasted the mud ” on the flats they will be sure In 
return till they are killed. ^ ' 
