Plate CCCXXI. Male.
Bill greyish-blue, at the base mottled with dusky; feet pale lake;
head yellowish-green; space around the eye and gular sac
orpiment-orange; a band of black from the lower mandible to the
occiput; feathers of the neck white; back and wings rose-coloured;
lower parts of a deeper colour; tuft of recurved feathers on fore
neck, a broad band across the wing, along the cubitus, and the upper
and lower tail-coverts, rich carmine, with silky lustre; shafts of
quills and scapulars light carmine; on each side of the lower part of
the neck a patch of pale ochre; tail-feathers ochre-yellow, but at the
base roseate.
_Male_, 30-3/4, 53. _Female_, 28, 48.
Constant resident in the Texas, South Florida, and as far eastward as
North Carolina, where it is however very rare. Occasionally in summer
up the Mississippi to Natchez. Breeds in flocks on trees, low bushes,
or cactuses.
Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea Ajaja, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vii. p.
123.
Platalea Ajaja, Bonap. Syn. p. 346.
Roseate Spoonbill, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 79.
Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea Ajaja, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p.
188.