Genus— S PATHERODIA. 
Spatherodia Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel., p. xvi., 
1 -^^^ .• •• .. .. .. .. .. 
T^pe S. regia. 
Platalepne birds witb tbe top of tbe bead bare and warty, tbe nape 
crested, long plataleine bills, long necks and wings, short tail, very long legs 
and long toes. Tbe bill is characteristic of tbe family, being long, flattened, 
and narrowing in tbe middle, broadens out into a spoon-shaped end with a 
short decurved tip : tbe nostrils are elongated ovals, placed near together 
near the base of the bill in a shallow groove which becomes obsolete at 
the beginning of the contraction but which continues as a linear channel 
parallel to the edge of the mandible to the end. 
The nape bears a full crest in breeding-plumage, while the top of the 
head becomes denuded of feathers and bears warty excrescences. This bare 
portion extends in a line beyond the eyes down to the upper-throat, that and 
the chin being also bare. The wing has the second primary longest, the third 
longer than the first, which is about equal to the fourth ; it is less than twice 
the length of the culmen though much more than twice the metatarsal 
length. The tail is short and square, composed of twelve feathers: shorter 
than the metatarsus and only about one- third the length of the wing. 
The legs are very long with a long exposed tibia ; the metatarsus is 
regularly covered with hexagonal scales both in front and behind ; the toes 
are long and a long hind toe is present. 
In the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, Vol. XXVI., the 
family Plataleidce is divided into three genera, Platalea, Platibis, and Ajaja. 
In the foremost was placed the present species, the genus Spatherodia 
being suppressed. If the species be compared with the type of Platalea, it is 
at once seen to differ quite as much from that as the type of Ajaja does 
from it. The bare head and neck of Ajaja is simply an extension of the 
bare top of the head of Spatherodia, while the warty markings of Spatherodia 
are more distinctive. The rejection of Spatherodia would necessitate the 
non-acceptance of Ajaja, yet the latter genus has been utilized by all recent 
genus-lumpers. The differences seen are however of more importance in these 
large, little differentiated forms than much more apparent alterations observed 
in Passerine birds which are commonly recognised as of generic rank. 
398 
