SPOONBILLS 
217 
Nest, in colonies on mud flats, a truncate cone of mud 8-14 inches in 
height, hollowed on top. Egg, 1, whitish with a chalky deposit, 3*55 x 2*20. 
Date, Andros Is., Bahamas, May 5. 
The Flamingo was formerly a regular winter visitant to the vast 
shoals at the extremity of Florida, but it is now of rare occurrence 
there. (Scott, Auk, VII, pp. 221-226; Ingraham, World’s Congress in 
Orn., pp. 59-69.) There are probably two large breeding colonies on 
Andros Island, Bahamas. The nests are placed within a few feet of 
each other, 2,000 being counted in a space one hundred and thirty 
yards long. Both sexes incubate. The period of incubation is about 
four weeks. The young are hatched covered with down and leave the 
nest when two or three days old. They are fed by regurgitation on the 
partially digested juices of a small mollusk of the genus Cerithium, 
which forms apparently the only food of the adult. The note of the 
young is a shrill whistling, that of the adult a goose-like honking. 
In flight the neck is fully extended. 
1902. Chapman, F. M., Bird-Lore, IV, 177-181. 1908. Camps and 
Cruises, 155-191 (nesting habits). 
VII. ORDER HERODIONES. HERONS, STORKS, IBISES, ETC, 
17. Family Plataleiml Spoonbills. (Fig. 38.) 
The Spoonbills inhabit the warmer parts of the world. Only one 
of the six species is found in America. They frequent the shores both 
on the seacoast and in the interior. They are generally found in flocks 
and they nest in colonies. Spoonbills have the general habits of Ibises, 
but feed by immersing the bill and swinging it from side to side in their 
search for food. They fly with the neck fully extended, and with steady, 
uninterrupted wing-stroke. 
183. Ajaia ajaja {Linn.). Roseate Spoonbill. (Fig. 38 ; ) Ads . — • 
Head and throat bare, neck and upper back white, sometimes tinged with 
pink; sides of breast in front of the wings and end half of tail ochraceous- 
buff ; rest of plumage pink; lengthened feathers at the base of the neck darker; 
lesser wing-coverts, upper and under tail-coverts carmine. Im. — Similar, 
but head and throat feathered, ochraceous-buff and carmine of the adult 
replaced by pink. L., 32*00; W., 14*50; Tar., 4*00; B., 6*25. 
Range. — N. and S. A., from Tex., La., Fla., and Ga. s. to Patagonia 
and the Falkland Islands; formerly casual north to Pa. and the lower Ohio 
Valley (Ind. and Ills.); accidental in Calif., Colo., Kans., and Wise. 
Nest, in colonies, a platform of sticks in small trees, usually about 10 
feet up. Eggs, 3-5, white, spotted and speckled with shades of olive-brown, 
2*57 x 1*73. Date, Marquesas Key, Fla., Jan. 11, 1883; s. Fla., Mch. 11; 
Tamiahua Lagoon, Vera Cruz, Apl. 17, second plumage well grown. 
There are probably not more than a few hundred Spoonbills existing 
in Eastern North America, and they are confined to the southern part 
of Florida. The Spoonbill’s flight is rather ibislike, the neck being fully 
extended, but the wing-strokes are not interrupted by short sails. The 
