ROSEATE SPOONBILL. ' 
75 
The Roseate Spoonbills alight on trees with as much facility as Herons ; 
and even walk on their large branches. They usually nestle on the tops of 
the mangroves, placing their nests at the distance of a few yards from each 
other. They arc formed of sticks of considerable size and are flat, like most 
of those of the Heron tribe. The eggs are laid about the middle of April, 
and are usually three. They measure two inches and five-eighths in length, 
an inch and seven-eighths in their greatest breadth, are slightly granulated, 
almost equally rounded at both ends, and have a pure white colour. I have 
never seen the young when recently hatched ; but when able to«fly they are 
greyish-white. The bill is then quite smooth, of a yellowish-green colour, 
as are the legs and feet, as well as the skin on part of the head. Young 
birds in their second year have the wings and the lower wing-coverts of a 
pale roseate tint, the bill more richly coloured, and the legs and feet dark 
brownish-red, or purplish. At this age, they are unadorned with the curling 
feathers on the breast ; but in the third spring the bird is perfect, although 
it increases in size for several seasons after. I have never seen one of these 
birds of the bright red colour assigned to them by some authors. 
While on one of the islands of Galveston Bay in Texas, I found eight or 
ten nests of these birds, placed in low cactuses, amid some hundreds of nests 
belonging to Herons of different species, but was not rendered aware of the 
fact until I compared the eggs found there with those procured in the 
Floridas, although I did at the time mention to my friend Edward Harris, 
and to my son, that I thought the eggs and nests of which I speak were 
those of the Roseate Spoonbill and not of the Herons. What rendered the 
fact doubtful, however, was, that no Spoonbills were to be seen, as they had 
all betaken themselves to flight on hearing the reports of our guns. 
In connection with the procuring of some of these birds, I find a rather 
curious occurrence recorded in my journal. On the 2nd of May, 1837, my 
party and I went on shore from the Revenue Cutter “ Campbell,” on the 
island of Galveston, for the purpose of obtaining fish and prawns, the latter 
of which are in that country extremely abundant, and certainly the largest I 
have ever seen. Our fishing over, we were on the point of returning, when 
we saw three Spoonbills alight on a sand-bar, and almost immediately 
proceed to the water in search of food. My son was despatched after them, 
and having waded through some muddy parts of the inlet on the shore of 
which we were standing, he succeeded in getting near, and killed the finest' 
of the three. Almost at the same instant, the back fins of a large fish, 
resembling those of a shark, were seen meandering above the surface of the 
shallow waters. My son received prompt intelligence of this, to enable him 
to make good his return. The monster moved about rather slowly, and 
John having rammed home a couple of bullets, lodged them in its body, on 
