104 ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES. 
“ Other facts confirm me in that opinion. A common Spoonbill was kept tame by a friend of 
mine seven years, at the end of which time it died without having acquired any of the distin- 
guishing marks of P. ajaja. 
“ I have dissected three examples of the latter species, and observed in them the curiously 
formed trachea recently described by Mr. Garrod . 1 I have shot perhaps a hundred specimens 
of the common bird, for they are extremely abundant with us. Of these I have opened about 
thirty, but in none of them did I find this form of trachea. I am therefore convinced that 
we have two distinct species of Rose-colored Spoonbill, inhabiting different portions of the 
continent.” 
The Roseate Spoonbill has a wide distribution, occurring in favorable localities 
throughout South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Gulf Region of the 
United States, from Florida to the Mexican departments. Stragglers have been ob- 
served even as far south as the Falkland Islands. Captain C. C. Abbott states that 
a specimen of the Spoonbill was shot in a pond near Kidney Cove, in the Falkland 
Islands, in July, 1860; and he also found the remains of another in Whalebone Bay, 
in the same year. Dr. Burmeister speaks of this species as everywhere present in 
the La Plata Region, throughout nearly the whole of which it was found frequenting 
the reeds, on the shores of streams and lagoons. He always found it solitary, and 
never noticed it in flocks. Mr. C. Barrington Brown mentions finding it common in 
the inlets of the Cotinga River, in British Guiana. Mr. Salvin notices the pro- 
curing of a single individual of this species in Guatemala. It had been shot by an 
Indian on the borders of Lake Duenas. Mr. Salvin afterward mentions having met 
with it occasionally on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, where, not unfrequently, a 
small flock would fly across the creek, seldom within shot, but often near enough 
to show their brilliant colors. This species has not, that I am aware, been recorded 
on the Pacific coast north of Mazatlan; but it is found in several of the West India 
Islands, and according to Dr. Gundlach it breeds in Cuba. It was “not met with by 
Mr. Gosse in J amaica, but is given by Mr. Richard Hill as a resident of that island ; 
Mr. March, however, regards it as being of very rare occurrence there. It is given 
by Leotaud as an occasional visitant to Trinidad, the birds seen there being always 
in their immature plumage. These visitants usually arrive about the end of June, 
and leave in the month of October. It is abundant in Southwestern Texas and 
along the Gulf coast of Mexico. Mr. Dresser speaks of it as common near Mata- 
moras during the summer, and he never visited the lagoon near the town without 
seeing several. On his journey to San Antonio, in September, he saw a number at 
different places near the coast ; and in June, 1864, he saw two or three on Galveston 
Island, where it is known under the name of “ Flamingo.” He was informed that, 
in former years, it had been known to breed on the island, but that it does so no 
longer, having been too much disturbed. He received a specimen in a collection 
from Fort Stockton, where it was obtained on the 3d of August. Occasionally this 
species wanders up the creeks and rivers flowing into the Gulf, and a specimen was 
taken as high up on the Mississippi as Katehez. This was the locality of Wilson’s 
type of the species. That author, however, regarded this bird as rare in Florida, 
while Kuttall thought it common in Jamaica ; both these statements have, however, 
proved to be incorrect. Huttall records a straggler as having been taken on the 
banks of the Delaware River ; but there is no recent record of such an occurrence. 
According to Dr. Berlandier (unpublished MSS.), the Roseate Spoonbill inhabits 
almost all the eastern coast of Mexico. It is in winter quite common about the 
lakes of Tampico, Tamiagua, the shores of Panonco, etc., advancing in the summer 
1 P. Z. S. 1875, 1>. 297. 
