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BLACK-BILLED SPOONBILL. 
Immature bird differs from the adult chiefly in having the two outer primary-quills 
brown on the outer-webs and all the primaries more or less brown at the tips, 
the third and fourth quills are brown on the outer web at the base ; outer webs 
of bastard-wing and primary-coverts, with their shafts, also brown ; the shafts 
of both the primary- and secondary-quills conspicuously black ; distal half of 
bill brown ; lores, orbits, forehead and rest of bill black ; gular pouch leaden- 
brown ; tarsi and feet black. Younger specimens have the head feathered. 
Nest. “ A flat structure, composed of broken down reeds and twigs, measuring two 
feet across, placed about three feet above the water ” (Evered). 
Eggs. Clutch, three or four ; chalky-white, with blotches of reddish-brown ; axis 
66-70 mm., diameter 42-44. 
Breeding-season. October to April ; December (Evered, New South Wales) ; March 
(Eeartland, Daly River, Northern Territory) ; October (Garter, North West 
Cape) ; April (Jackson, North Queensland). 
Mr. J. P. Rogers found these birds in company with Platihis flavipes on 
the Fitzroy River in North-west Australia. They were far from common 
and much more wild than the next species ; they were also found on 
Melville Island. 
Mr. Tom Carter found them breeding near the North West Cape, in 
West Australia, in October, 1900. 
Captain S. A. White says : “ A few of these birds are distributed over 
the rivers and lakes of South Australia, but they are never seen in great 
numbers, and are often found in company with Platihis flavipes. They seem 
to live on frogs, aquatic insects, and small shell-fish. 
“They keep close to the Pelicans if there are any about, and this wary 
bird sees danger a long way off and shows uneasiness, then the Spoonbills 
are off to safer grounds. They are seen on Lake Albert with crests in 
July. The red spot on the top of the head where the feathers meet the 
black bare skin, and the yellow spots over the eyes, are very distinct. When 
feeding they thrust their bills down into the mud and water, swinging their 
heads from side to side as they walk along, by so doing they searched aU 
the water and mud for the space of several feet on either side of them.” 
The late Captain Bowyer Bower writing from Derby says : “ They walk 
quietly through the water with the bill a little more than half under, and at 
each step sway from side to side. The mandibles are for the majority of 
the time kept a little open. Their flight seems heavy, particularly when 
turning. They are fairly silent. The wind-pipe runs the length of the 
sternum and turns and then goes forward before entering the lungs. Irides 
scarlet ; bill slate-coloured, mottled with black as far as the nostrils, above 
which it is black, lower mandible black at the base, slate-coloured at the 
point ; the naked skin of the face and throat black, except a superciliary 
stripe over each eye and a triangular mark on the top of the head, between 
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