the Spoonbill, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of grallae. The beak is plain, and dilates towards the point into an orbicular form; the feet have three toes, and are half palmated. There are three species distinguished by their colour; and of these species there are three varieties; two of what is called the white species, and one of the rostrate.

1. The white species, which Linnaeus calls platala leucoptera, is about the size of a heron, but somewhat shorter in the neck and legs. The bill is more than half a foot long, and, like that of the rest of the genus, is shaped like a spoon: the colour of the bill is very various, being in some birds black, in others brown, and sometimes spotted; from the base to two-thirds of its length several indentations cross it, the rising parts of which are of a dark colour: the tongue is short and heart-shaped: the irises are grey: the skin of the lore round the eyes and of the throat is bare and black: the plumage is entirely white, though there have been specimens where the quills were tipped with black: the legs are generally either black or of a greyish brown colour; between the toes there is a membrane connected to the outer one as far as the second, and to the inner as far as the first joint.

"This bird (says Mr Latham) is found in various parts of the old continent, and from the Ferro isles near Iceland to the Cape of Good Hope. It frequents the neighbourhood of the sea; and has been met with on the coasts of France; at Sevenhurs, near Leyden, once in great plenty, annually breeding in a wood there. The nest is placed on high trees near the sea-side. The female lays three or four white eggs, powdered with a few pale red spots, and of the size of those of an hen. They are very noisy during breeding-time, like our rooks; are seldom found high up the rivers, chiefly frequenting the..." Platalea, the mouths of them. Their food is fish, which they are said not unfrequently to take from other birds, in the manner of the bald eagle; also mussels and other shellfish being found in greatest numbers where these are plenty; and they will also devour frogs and snakes, and even grass and weeds, which grow in the water, as well as the roots of reeds. They are migratory, retiring to the warmer parts as the winter approaches, and are rarely seen in England. Their flesh is said to have the flavour of a goose, and is eaten by some, and the young birds have been thought good food. By many authors they are called pelicans.

The two varieties of this species are equal in size to the rosette species. The bill of the first is reddish; the plumage mostly white; the feathers of the wings partly white and partly black, and the legs reddish. The plumage of the other is entirely white, not excepting even the quills. It has a crest of feathers whose webs are very loose, and separated from one another; the bill is of a rufous grey colour, having red edges, and the legs are of a dull pale red. They both inhabit the Philippine islands.

2. The rosette species, or Platalea ajaja, is but a little less than the white. The bill is marked all round with a furrow parallel to the edge, and is of a greyish white colour, so transparent as to show the ramification of the blood-vessels belonging to it: the forehead is of a whitish colour between the bill, and eyes, and throat: the plumage is a fine rosette-colour, deepset on the wings; the legs are grey; the claws blackish; and the toes have membranes as in the last species. The variety of this species is entirely of a beautiful red colour, having a collar of black at the lower part of the neck; the irises are red. Mr Latham imagines it is the rosette in full plumage. It is said to be of a blackish chestnut the first year; becomes rosette-coloured the second, and of a deep scarlet the third. It lives on small fish.

3. The dwarf species, or Platalea pigmen, is about the size of a sparrow. The bill is black, longer than the head, flat at the end, and nearly of a rhomboidal form; the angles and top of the upper mandible are white; the tongue is smooth; the body is brown above and white beneath; the quills have white shafts; the tail is rounded, short, and of a brownish white colour; the feet have four toes, are cloven, and the claws are pointed. It inhabits Surinam and Guiana.