100 
ALTKICIAL GRALLATORES — IIERODIONES. 
several other kinds of birds, were breeding there ; and not unfrequently nests of all 
these different species were placed within a few feet of one another ; but in general 
the different species preferred to form, each for itself, a little nesting group of ten 
or fifteen pairs. The reeds grew naturally to a height of about six feet above the 
surface of the water ; but they were either beaten down to form a support for the 
nests, or else dead and partly floating stalks of the previous year were used for that 
purpose. It was impossible to form any estimate of the number of this species nest- 
ing there. As he approached the spot many were seen about the edges of the lagoon, 
or flying to and from more distant feeding-grounds. On firing a gun a perfect mass 
of birds arose, with a noise like thunder, from the entire bed of reeds, but they soon 
settled down again. 
Both the nests and the eggs of this Ibis were quite unlike those of any of the 
Herons, and could be distinguished at a glance. The nests were made of broken bits 
of dead tules, supported by and attached to broken and upright stalks of living ones. 
They were well and compactly built, and were usually distinctly cupped, and quite 
unlike the clumsy platforms of the Herons. Early in May in the following year 
I)r. Merrill revisited this heronry ; but there were no nests and but few birds to be 
seen : they had evidently moved to some other locality, where there were similar 
beds of reeds ; but he was prevented by sickness from making any farther investi- 
gations. 
The eggs were found to be nearly always three in number, and at the time of his 
visit — the middle of May — were far advanced in incubation. Many of the nests 
contained young of all sizes. By a careful measurement of fifty examples, Dr. Merrill 
ascertained the average size of the egg of this species to be 1.95 by 1.35, the extremes 
being 2.20 by 1.49, and 1.73 by 1.29. These eggs are decidedly pointed at the 
smaller end, and are of a deep bluish-green color. 
Family PLATALEIDiE. — The Spoonbills. 
Platalcidm, Bonap. 1849 ; Consp. II. 1855, 146. 
Char. Large-sized Ibis-like birds, with the bill greatly flattened and expanded 
terminally. Bill deep through the base (the culmen ascending), but immediately 
flattened ; narrowest across the middle portion, the end widely expanded, the tip 
rounded and decurved. Nostrils superior, longitudinal, without surrounding or 
overhanging membrane ; nasal fossae prolonged forward in a narrow, continuous 
groove to the extreme tip of the bill (as in the Ibises), its course nearly (or in 
some genera quite) parallel with the lateral outline of the maxilla ; approximate 
surfaces of maxilla and mandible with one or tw r o rows of more or less prominent 
tootli-like papillae along each side. Tarsus longer than middle toe, and with small 
longitudinal hexagonal scales in front; outer toe decidedly longer than inner, its 
claw reaching to the base of the middle claw; hallux nearly incumbent, about 
equal to the basal phalanx of the inner toe ; bare portion of tibia longer than outer 
toe ; web between inner and middle toes well developed. Wings ample, reaching 
about to the end of the tail, the primaries a little longer than the tertials. Tail 
short, even, of twelve stiff, broad, round-ended feathers. 
