WHITE SPOONBILL. 
161 
all the produce of marine and aquatic life which oc- 
curs in pools left by the tide, or is formed by fresh 
waters. The form and structure of the hill would, 
however, lead us to believe, that if their manner of 
feeding was strictly observed, it would be found 
adapted to a peculiar kind of food, abundant in the 
places which they frequent. In confinement it is 
various, and nothing seems to come far amiss. 
Young birds we have seen fed on bread and milk, 
and also with fish, which they eat with great avidity. 
The plumage of the adult Spoonbill is entirely pure 
white, with the exception of a band of a rich buff 
colour, placed on each side of the lower parts of the 
neck, and which shades off to pure white on the fore 
part of the breast, scarcely however meeting. The 
head is adorned with a very ample crest of long 
broad feathers, hanging half way down the neck, 
and capable of being erected at pleasure ; the bill is 
black, yellow towards the tip, and very rugous above; 
the legs and feet are also black. The female is 
described as having a small crest. In the young 
the head is not crested, and the buff-coloured band 
is not present. In young birds which we saw in 
Holland, fully feathered, but not long from the nest, 
the plumage above was dusky, from a dull or dark 
stripe passing along the centre of each feather ; and 
the bill, with the bare skin of the face, was of a 
grey or lead colour, the former quite soft, and tinted 
on the edges of the gape with pink. 
L 
