( 6i ;
The Spoonhill. Albardeola.
Numb. LXVI.
IT S Weight forty five Ounces and a h a lf; its Length, from the Tip o f the Bill to
the End 'o f th e Claws, was thirty four Inches, to th e End o f the Tail twenty
four; the Colour o f the whole Body was white like a Swans: beyond the Eyes
towards the Bill grow neither Feathers n or Down, as in the Hern and Cormorant ;
the Angle alfo o f the lower Chap is bare, which perchance is peculiar and proper to
:this Bird.
Th e firft quill Feathers o f the Wings are black, o f the fécond only the cxtenour
o r outer W eb half from the Shafts and the Tips o f the interlour are black, of the
third only the Top, and o f .th e fourth yçt lefst in like manner the Tips and Shafts -of
the inferiour o f the fécond Row were black; the T ail is.ihort, being b.ut .three Inches
and a half in Length, made up o f twelve Eeathers.
T h e Bill is Of a fingular and unufual Figure, plain, depreifed, and broad, near the
End dilated into an almoft circular Figure o f the Likenefs o f a Spoon ; whence alfo
th e Bird itfelf is called by the Low Dutch, Leplaer, that is Spoon Bills the broad
Part o f the Bill is graven with twelve or fourteen Lines orCrevifes, but its inward
Surface is fmooth and. even, without any fuch Lines or Gravings.
T h e Bills o f the young ones are o f a yeliowilh white, o f the old ones black ; the
Tongue is fhàrp and litfleV th e Legs half way up the fécond Jo in t are bare o f Feathers,
o f à chefnut Colour; the Feet ftrong, th e fore Toes joined together by a membrane,
the outmoft and middlemoft to the fécond Jo in t, the middlemoft and inmoft
n o further than the firft; the Toes and Claws black.
It had a large Gall, the Guts had many Revolutions, above the Stomach the Gullet
was dilated into a Bag, whofe inward Surface was rough and uneven, with many
papillary Glandules. . .
Its Eggs are o f the Bignefs o f large Herl’s Eggs, white and powdered with a few
fanguine or pale red Spots. . : | ■ TT n j
In a certain Grove at a Village, called Sevenhuys, no t far from Leyden in Holland,
they build and bread yearly in great Numbers on the Tops o f high Trees, where
-are alfo Herns and Night-Ravens, &c. when the young ones are almoft fledged, thole
that farm the Grove, with Hooks o n the Tops o f long Poles, pull them down, i
was obliged to Mrs. Legrand for the Sight o f this Bird.