142 PLATALEA A.IAJA. 
small fish,* * * § or the og^s of them, and of water 
which they search after, by plunging in the bill 
part of the head ; from time to time trampling 
their feet to muddy the water, that their prey nia)' 
raised from the bottom. In feeding, they are said to t* 
the neck in such a manner, that the upper part o> , 
bill is applied to the ground during this, one ot 
is said to stand sentinel, and the moment he sounds ^ 
alarm, the whole flock take wing. This bird, "’1*^’ 
rest, stands on one leg, the other being drawn rip i 
to the body, with the head planed under the wiu? 
that side of the body it stands on. J 
“ The flesh of these birds is esteemed pretty r^,! ' 
meat, and the young thought, by some, equal to 
a partridge;:]: but the greatest dainty is the toUg^ 
which was esteemed by the ancients an exq“''^||i 
morsel. § They are sometimes caught young, and broi^jj 
up tame ; but are ever impatient of cold, and in 
state will seldom live a gre.at while, gradually l^'^ji 
their colour, flesh, and appetite ; and dying for 
of that food, which, in a state of nature at large, 
were abundantly supplied with.” 
GENUS ISS.. — FLATALEA. 
245. rZATJLEA AJAJA. LINNJiUS ASD WILSON- 
KOSEATE SPOONBILL. 
WILSON, PLATE LXIII. FIG. I. EDINBCEGH COLLEGE 
This stately and elegant bird inhabits the sea sn .,1 
of America, from Brazil to Georgia. It also app^®’^||i( 
wander up the Mississippi sometimes in sumniet' . ,ti' 
present specimen having been sent me from the ur - 
* Small sbell fisli. — Gesner. f Linn.eur, BBi^!]i. f 
^ Commonly fat, and accounted delicate Davies’s 
Barbadoes, p. 83. The inhabitants of Provence always -jc 
away the flesh, as it tastes fishy, and only make use of ipf ' 
as ornaments to other birds at particular entertainments, — D* 
Travels, p. 374. 
§ See Pliny, IX, cap. 48. 
