142 
PLATALEA AJAJA. 
small fish,* * * § or the eggs of them, and of water insects^ 
which they search after, by plunging in the bill and 
part of the head ; from time to time trampling with 
their feet to muddy the water, that their prey may be 
raised from the bottom.. In feeding, they are said to twist 
the neck in such a manner, that the upper part of the 
bill is applied to the ground ; f during this, one of them 
is said to stand sentinel, and the moment he sounds the 
alarm, the whole fiock take wing. This bird, when at 
rest, stands on one leg, the other being drawn up close 
to the body, with the head placed under the wing on 
that side of the body it stands on. 
u The flesh of these birds is esteemed pretty good 
meat, and the young thought, by some, equal to that of 
a partridge but the greatest dainty is the tongue, 
which was esteemed by the ancients an exquisite 
morsel. $ They are sometimes caught young, and brought 
up tame ; but are ever impatient of cold* and in this 
state will seldom live a great while, gradually losing 
their colour, flesh, and appetite ; and dying for want 
of that food, which, in a state of nature at large, they 
were abundantly supplied with.” 
GENUS LX. — PL A TALE A. 
245. PLATALEA AJAJA. — LINNAEUS AND WILSON. 
ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 
WILSON, PLATE LXIII. FIG. I EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
This stately and elegant bird inhabits the sea shores 
of America, from Brazil to Georgia. It also appears to 
wander up the Mississippi* sometimes in summer, the 
present specimen having been sent me from the neigh- 
* Small shell fish. — Gesner. f Linnjeus, Brisson. 
| Commonly fat, and accounted delicate. — Davies’s Hist, of 
JBarbadoes , p. 88. The inhabitants of Provence always throw 
away the flesh, as it tastes fishy, and only make use of the feathers 
as ornaments to other birds at particular entertainments. — Dillon 
Travels, p. 374. 
§ See Pliny, IX, cap. 48. 
