686 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
Family TLA TALEIDAE. 
4/ 
Ch. —Bill completely depressed, very broad, and widening at the rounded tip. 
No more detailed description is needed to characterize the spoon-bills, of which seven or 
eight species are described by authors. 
PLATALEA, L. 
Flatalea, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1735. Type Plalalea leucorodia. (Gray.) 
Cii.—B ill very broad, excessively depressed, and spatulate or greatly widened to the rounded tip; the mandibles in close 
apposition ; the edges not lamellar. Head bald in the adult American species. Legs rather shorter than in typical herons ; tibia 
and tarsi covered throughout with small hexagonal scales ; the former bare for nearly one-half. Toes webbed at the base ; the 
outer lorger than the inner ; the middle claw not pectinated. Middle toe nearly as long as the tarsus ; hind toe rather long. 
Comparative measurements. 
Species. 
Locality. 
Age. 
Length. Wing. 
( 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Middle 
toe. 
Its claw. 
Bil 
above. 
Along 
gape. 
Specimen 
measured. 
32.50 15.00 
4.70 
3.96 
3.64 
0.56 
6.60 
C.15 
o 
. 14,00 
5.26 
4.28 
3.76 
0.55 
7.00 
6.60 
PLATALEA AJAJA, Linn. 
Rosy Spoon-bill. 
Flatalea ajaja, Linn. I, 17G6, 231.— Gmelin, I, G14.— Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 123 ; pi. Ixii, (two years old.)— 
Bon. Obs. 1825, No. 185. —Ib. Conspectus, II, 1855, 14G. —Nuttall, Man. II, 1834, 79 —Wagleu, 
Isis, 1831, 530. —Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 188, pi. 131. —Ib. Syn.—I b. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 72 ; 
pi. 3G2.— Gundlach, Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 347. 
riatea incarnata, Sloan, Hist. Jam. II, 31G. 
Roseate spoon-bill, Latham. 
dldult. —Head all round and nape naked. General color rosy red ; paler anteriorly, and nearly white on the neck. Lesser 
wing coverts, with upper and lower tail coverts and lower part of throat, intense carmine. Tail feathers brownish ochre yellow. 
Nuked skin of head yellowish green. Bill mostly greenish blue in life. 
Younger with the head feathered, except around the base of the bill, and around and a little behind the eye. Similar in color, 
but the carmine wanting and the tail rosy. 
Length, 30 inches ; wing, 15 ; tarsus, 4 ; bill above, 7. 
Hob .—South Atlantic and Gulf States. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtaiued. 
Collected by— 
S. F. Baird._.. 
J. J. Audubon .. 
A 97 Q 
1854 
O/IOQ 
1853 
A. Schott_ 
9498 
1843 
