rounded part near tlie point, where it is yellow; the naked
skin under the tongue and on the throat is also yellow; the
irides red; the whole of the plumage pure white, except a
band of feathers at the bottom of the neck in front, which
is of a huff colour, and this tint extends upwards on each
side in a narrow stripe to the top ; there also is a roseate
blush observable in some of the dorsal feathers, towards
their roots, being especially apparent in, and, as it were,
radiating from, the shafts of the feathers. Some of the
feathers of the occiput are elongated, forming a conspicuous
plume; the legs, toes, and claws are black; the toes connected
by a considerable expanse of membrane, which is
concave at the margin between the toes.
The whole length of the bird, from the point of the beak
to the end of the tail, is about thirty-two inches ; of which
the beak in an old male will measure nearly nine inches;
from the carpal joint to the end of the wing fourteen inches
and a half; the first quill-feather not quite so long as the
fourth; the second and third equal in length, rather longer
than the fourth, and the longest in the wing.
The females are not so large, at the same age, as males,
and have a smaller occipital crest; but they are not otherwise
dissimilar.
In young birds the beak is not so large, it is softer in its
texture, more flexible, and of a dark livid flesh-colour; the
naked parts about the head paler; the irides ash-colour;
the shafts and the ends of the quill-featliers are black, and
there is no indication of the elongated occipital feathers,
which at mature age are borne by both sexes.
The Spoonbill possesses a peculiarity of internal structure
much too interesting to be passed over. This bird is one
of the very few which has been found to possess no true
muscles of the organ of voice, and no modulation of its single
tone appears to be possessed by the bird. The illustration
inserted on the next page is a representation of part of the
inside of this bird, with the figure-of-8-like convolutions
of its singular windpipe in the natural situation in front of
the lungs ; the insertion of the bronchi* into the lobe of the
lungs on each side is shown. In a young Spoonbill taken
from the nest, and examined by Willughby in reference to
this particular structure which is said to have been first
noticed by Aldrovandus, this peculiarity was not found ; and
as it has proved to be wanting in other immature examples
(c/. Zool. 1880, p. 514), it would appear that this formation
of the vocal organs (which is known to exist in old females
as well as in old males), is, like the occipital crest, obtained
by neither sex till they have acquired a certain degree of
maturity.
The representation below is one-tliird less than the
natural size.