tertials dark maroon-brown with brilliant green and purple
reflections ; wing-primaries dark brownish-black, tinged
with green; tail-feathers brownish-black, tinged with purple;
breast, sides, and belly, deep reddish-brown, like the neck;
the under surface of the wings, the flanks and under tail-
coverts, dark brown ; the legs and toes bronzed-brown, the
claws olive-brown.
The whole length of the bird is about twenty-two inches.
From the carpal joint to the end of the wing ten inches and
three-quarters ; the first quill-feather shorter than the second
and third, which are nearly equal in length and the longest
in the wing.
In young birds the head, cheeks, and upper part of the
neck behind are dull clove-brown, intermixed with short
hair-like streaks of greyish-white ; on the throat in front,
one and sometimes more patches of dull greyish-white,
placed rather transversely ; the whole of the body above
and below, the wings and the tail, dull uniform liver-brown,
with very little of the glossy tints observable in older birds,
which are obtained gradually. When barely able to fly, the
plumage is entirely brown, with a faint lustre on the wings.
The nestling is covered with a close black down, with a
yellowish Y-shaped band over the crown ; throat barred with
dull white; bill yellow, with a black tip, and a black band
across both mandibles near the base; legs and feet dull
flesh-colour.
P la ta lea l eu cokod ia , Linnaeus.*
THE WHITE SPOONBILL.
Platalea leucoroclia.
Platalea, Linnceus\ .—Bill very long, strong, very much flattened, dilated
at the point, rounded in the form of a spoon ; upper mandible channelled and
transversely grooved at the base. Nostrils on the upper surface of the beak,
near together, oblong, open, bordered by a membrane. Forehead, lore, orbits,
and chin, naked. Legs long, strong, three toes in front, united as far as the
second articulation by a membrane, the marginal edge of which is deeply
concave ; hind toe long. Wings rather large ; the third quill-feather nearly as
long as the second, which is the longest in the wing.
T he S po o n b il l is recorded as a British bird by Merrett,
on the authority of Dr. Turner, and Sir .Robert Sibbald
* Platalea Leucoroclia, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 231 (1766).
t loc. cit.