ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 
109 
Guiana, and Brazil. In the southern hemisphere it is said to 
exist in Peru and as far down the coast of South America as 
Patagonia. North of the equator it migrates in summer into 
Florida, and is met with to the confines of the Altamaha, in 
Georgia. Wilson’s specimen was obtained up the Mississippi, 
at the town of Natchez (about the latitude of 32°). Some 
are also occasionally met with on the river shores of the Ala- 
bama, and in other parts of that State. A straggler has been 
known to wander as far as the banks of the Delaware. 
According to the relation of Captain Henderson, in his 
account of Honduras, this species is more maritime in its 
babits than that of Europe, as it wades about in quest of shell- 
fish, marine insects, fry, and small crabs ; and in pursuit of 
these, according to him, it occasionally swims and dives. 
The European, or white, species appears to reside in much 
cooler climes than the American, being abundant in Holland, 
and even at times visiting the shores of the South and West 
of England in whole flocks. It is there, however, a bird of 
passage, and in migrations accompanies the flocks of Swans. 
At the present day Spoonbills are found regularly no farther 
north than the maritime districts of the Gulf States, though an 
Occasional bird wanders up the valley of the Mississippi, ranging 
at times as far as southern Illinois. 
They were abundant in Florida not many years ago, but the 
P nme-hunters have almost exterminated them there. 
