Amsterdam and Utrecht, and visits to that colony have
been described by Messrs. Sclater and Forbes (Ibis, 1877,
p. 412), and by Mr. Seebohm (Zool. 1880, p. 457). Since its
drainage, the Spoonbills have moved to the Naarden Meer,
about fifteen miles from Amsterdam, covering about 2,300
acres in extent, of which a thousand are now being drained;
so that the destruction of another breeding-place of this
interesting bird can only be a question of time. Mr. Alfred
Crowley, already mentioned in the account of the breeding
of the Purple Heron, has furnished the Editor with the
following description of his visit on the 27th of May,
1884 : —“ Taking a small boat in tow, we were punted across
the open water, over which were flying numbers of Sand
Martins, Swifts, Common and Black Terns, and Blackheaded
Gulls, the reeds being full of Coots, Moorhens,
Sedge and Reed Warblers, &c., and in the distance we saw,
rising above the reeds occasionally, a Spoonbill or Purple
Heron. On nearing a large mass of reeds, one of the boatmen
struck the side of the punt with the pole, when up rose
some fifty Spoonbills and eight or ten Purple Herons; and
as we came closer to the reeds there were soon hovering
over our heads, within easy shot, some two hundred of the
former and fifty or sixty of the latter. Strange to say, not
a note or sound escaped from the Spoonbills, and only a few
croaks from the Herons. On reaching the reeds we moored
our punt, and two of the men, wading in the mud, took us
in the small boat about fifty yards through the reeds, where
we found ourselves surrounded by Spoonbills’ nests. They
were placed on the mud among the reeds, built about a foot
or eighteen inches high and two feet in diameter at the
bottom, tapering to about one foot at the top, where there
was a slight depression, in which lay four eggs, or in most
cases four young birds ; many ready to leave the nest, and
several ran off as we approached. In the nests with young
there was a great difference in age and size, one being about
a day or so old, and the oldest nearly ready to leave the
nest—some two or three weeks old; so that evidently the
birds lay their four eggs at considerable intervals, and begin
/
to sit on depositing the first. After wandering about, a
matter of difficulty on account of the mud, we found a clutch
of only three eggs, and one of four, which I managed to
blow. We also obtained two clutches of eggs of the Purple
Heron, but some of the latter had young.”
At Erzeroum, Dickson and Ross state that in May
“ several nests are placed near each other, about the middle
of the river. They are made of reeds, bound together by
weeds, which are piled up a few inches above the water’s
edge. Over this foundation dried reeds are placed in various
directions, to form the body of the nest, which is not lined
with anything, and is just large enough to allow one bird
to sit, and the other to stand beside it : four eggs were
found in each.” In India Mr. Hume describes the Spoonbill
as breeding in large colonies, along with nearly allied
species, on tamarind- and peepul-trees—frequently in villages
—in the month of August; and in Ceylon Col. Legge found
the species nesting also, on trees, in March. The eggs,
usually four in number, are rough in texture, of a dull
white, streaked and spotted with reddish-brown; average
measurements, 2'5 by P8 in.
The Spoonbill feeds on small reptiles and fishes, mol-
lusca, aquatic insects, shrimps, sand-hoppers, &c., many of
which it finds when feeding at pools on the sea-shore.
Wolley noticed that in feeding the beak was passed sideways
through the water, and kept open till something palatable
came within its grasp; but the action by which the bird
effected this was most singular, for instead of turning only its
head and neck, it turned its whole body from left to right
and from right to left, like the balance-wheel of a watch, its
neck stretched out, and its beak immersed perpendicularly
to about half its depth; this semicircular action was kept
up with great vigour, and at a tolerably quick march (Zool.
p. 1213). Its flesh is dark in colour, but it is said to be of
good flavour, and without any fishy taste. In captivity it
is quiet and inoffensive, and, in common with the various
species to which it is allied, will feed on any sort of offal.
In the adult male bird the beak is black, except the
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