320 
ARDEIDjE. 
GRA LLA TORES. 
ARDRTDjE. 
SPOONBILL. 
Platalea leucorodia. 
PLATE LXXXY. 
The Spoonbill at one time reared its young ones in 
this country, and would do so again with many other 
species of birds, were it not for the extermination which 
awaits them as soon as they touch our inhospitable shores. 
It is a common bird on many parts of the Continent, 
where it breeds, but especially in the low marshy grounds 
of Holland. It will, at one time, build its nest upon the 
tops of the highest trees of the neighbourhood; and at 
another, place it, as the stork and the heron do, upon the 
ground. When the nest is built in trees, it is composed of 
sticks lined with finer materials; when upon the ground, 
surrounded as it always is by swamp and water, it is 
formed of large masses of reeds, rushes, and tufts of 
grass, to raise it above the influence of the wet. The 
Spoonbill breeds in the month of May, and lays three 
or four eggs; which are sometimes, though rarely, with¬ 
out any of the red spots. The one figured is from a beau¬ 
tiful series in the collection of Mr. Bond. 
