102 
ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
The above characters, in addition to those previously given, are sufficient to define this well- 
marked genus. Only one species is known, the A. rosea, whose distribution is coextensive with 
tropical and sub-tropical America. 
A. rosea. 
Ajaja rosea. 
THE ROSY SPOONBILL. 
Platca rosea, Briss. Orn. V. 1700, 356, pi. 30 (adult). 
Platalca ajaja, Linn. S. 1ST. ed. 10, 1758, 140, no. 2 (ex Sloane, Jam. II. 316 ; Marcgr. Ray) ; ed. 
12, I. 1766, 231,no. 2 (based on Platca rosea, Briss. Y. 356, t. 30. — P. incarnata, Sloane, 
Jam. II. 316. — P. brasiliensis, Ajaja dicta, Marcgr. Bras. 204). — Wils. Am. Orn. VII. 1813, 
123, pi. 62 (young, third year). — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 79. — Aud. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 188, 
131 ; Synop. 1839, — ; Birds Am. VI. 1843, 72, pi. 362 (adult). — Cass, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 
1858, 686. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 501. — Coues, Key, 1872, — ; Check List, 1873, 
no. 448. 
Platca mexicana (“Willoughby”), Game. Jonr. Philad. Acad. I. 1849, 222 (“San Francisco”). 
Roseate Spoonbill, Penn. Arct. Zool. II. 1785, 440, no. 338. 
Ajaja rosea, Reich. “Nat. Syst. 16.” — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 505. — Coues, Check 
List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 653. 
IIab. The whole of tropical and subtropical America, including the West Indies ; south to 
the Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and Chili, north to the Southern United States . 1 
1 The present northern limit to its range in the United States is not known with precision. We have 
reliable information of its abundance less than twenty years since in the “American Bottoms,” in Illinois, 
below St. Louis ; but whether it now occurs there at all, we do not know. Its former occurrence on the 
coast of California as far north as San Francisco, is asserted by Gambel (Jour. Phil. Ac. I. 1849, p. 222). 
