129 
ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 
PLATALEJi JIMM. 
[Plate LXIIL— Fig. 1.] 
Arct, Zool. Ab. 338 . — Lath. Syn. v, 3, />. 16, No. 2. — La Spatule couleur de Rose^ Briss. 
Orn. V, p. 356, 2, pi. 30 ; La Spatule rouge. Id. 359, 3.— Buff. VII, 456. PI. Enl. 165.— 
Ind. Orn. p. 668, No. 2. — Peale’s Museum^ No. 3553. 
THIS stately and elegant bird inhabits the seashores of 
America from Brasil to Georgia. It also appears to wander up 
the Mississippi sometimes in summer, the specimen from which 
the figure in the plate was drawn having been sent me from the 
neighborhood of Natchez, in excellent order; for which favour I 
am indebted to the family of my late benevolent and scientific 
friend, William Dunbai’, esq., of that territory. It is now deposit- 
ed in Mr. Peale’s museum. 
This species, however, is rarely seen to the northward of the 
Alatamaha river; and even along the peninsula of Florida is a 
scarce bird. In Jamaica, several other of the West India islands, 
Mexico and Guiana, it is more common, but confines itself chiefly 
to the seashore 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 singulai 
bird. It is said that the young are of a blackish chestnut the first 
year ; of the roseate color of the present the second year ; and of 
a deep scarlet the third.* 
Latham. 
VOL. VII. 
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