74 
ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 
When, after having seen three of these precious birds alight on their feeding 
grounds, about a quarter of a mile from where I stood, I managed, after 
something short of half an hour, to get within shot of them. Then, after 
viewing them for awhile unseen, I touched one of my "triggers, and two of 
them fell upon the surface of the shallow water. The other might, I believe, 
have been as easily shot, for it stood, as I have seen Wild Turkey cocks do 
on like occasions, looking with curious intensity, as it were, upon its 
massacred friends, until, seeing me get up and wade towards them, it 
hurriedly, extended its broad wings, and flew off towards the sea-shore. 
When wounded in the wing, they make towards deeper water, and, if 
closely pursued, will swim to some distance, but without ever attempting to 
dive, and when at last seized, offer no resistance. On"the contrary, if their 
wings are uninjured, though they may otherwise be severely wounded, they 
rise and fly to a great distance, or drop while on the way. I have considered 
these birds as tough to kill, and, when on open ground, even without being 
in company with Herons, as difficult of approach. They are as nocturnal 
as the Night Heron, and, although they seek for food at times during the 
middle of the day, their principal feeding time is from near sunset until 
daylight. To all such feeding grounds as are exposed to the tides, they 
betake themselves when it is low water, and search for food along the 
shallow margins until driven off by the returning tide. Few birds are 
better aware of the hours at which the waters are high or low, and when it 
is near ebb you see them wending their way to the shore. Whenever a 
feeding place seems to be productive, the Spoonbills are wont to return to it 
until they have been much disturbed, and persons aware of this fact may 
waylay them with success, as at such times one may shoot them while 
passing over head. To procure their food, the Spoonbills first generally 
alight near the water, into which they then wade up to the tibia, and 
immerse their bills in the water or soft mud, sometimes with the head and 
even the whole neck beneath the surface. They frequently withdraw these 
parts, however, and look around to ascertain if danger is near. They move 
their partially opened mandibles laterally to and fro with a considerable 
degree of elegance, munching the fry, insects, or small shell-fish, which they 
secure, before swallowing them. When there are many together, one 
usually acts as sentinel, unless a Heron should be near; and in either case 
you may despair of approaching them. I have never seen one of these birds 
feeding in fresh water, although I have been told that this is sometimes the 
case. To all those keys in the Floridas in which ponds have been dug for 
the making of salt, they usually repair in the evening for the purpose of 
feeding: but the shallow inlets in the great salt-marshes of our southern 
coast are their favourite places of resort. 
