ROSEATE SPOON-BILL. 
27 
In Jamaicaj several other of the West India islands, Mexico 
and Guiana, it is more common, but confines itself chiefly to 
the sea-shore and the mouths of rivers. Captain Henderson 
says, it is frequently seen at Honduras. It wades about in • 
quest of shell fish, marine insects, small crabs, and fish. In 
pursuit of these, it occasionally swims and dives. 
There are few facts on record relative to this very singular 
bird. It is said that the young are of a blackish chestnut the 
first year ; of the roseate colour of the present the second year ; 
and of a deep scarlet the third.^ Having never been so 
fortunate as to meet with them in their native wilds, I regret 
my present inability to throw any farther light on their his- 
tory and manners. These, it is probable, may resemble, in 
many respects, those of the European species, the white spoon- 
bill once so common in Holland. f To atone for this deficiency, 
I have endeavoured faithfully to delineate the figure of this 
American species, and may, perhaps, resume the subject in 
some future part of the present work. 
The roseate spoon-bill, now before us, measured two feet six 
inches in length, and near four feet in extent ; the bill was six 
inches and a half long from the corner of the mouth, seven from 
its upper base, two inches over at its greatest width, and three 
quarters of an inch where narrowest ; of a black colour for half 
its length, and covered with hard scaly protuberances, like the 
edges of oyster-shells ; these are of a whitish tint, stained with 
red; the nostrils are oblong, and placed in the centre of the 
upper mandible; from the lower end of each there runs a deep 
groove along each side of the mandible, and about a quarter of 
an inch from its edge ; whole crown and chin, bare of plumage, 
and covered with a greenish skin ; that below the under man- 
* Latham. 
The European species breeds on trees by the sea side ; lays three or four 
white eggs, powdered with a few pale red spots, and about the size of those of a 
hen ; are very noisy during breeding time ; feed on fish, mussels, &c., which, 
like the bald eagle, they frequently take from other birds, frightening them by 
clattering their bill ; they are also said to eat grass, weeds, and roots of reeds : 
they are migratory ; their flesh reported to savour of that of a goose ; the young 
are reckoned good food. 
