bernieri_ of Madagascar, and probably Aldabra Island, has white primaries, as has _I. melanocephala_, ranging from India and Java to Japan. The latter, moreover, develops in the breeding season a ruff of long plumes on the fore-neck, similar to that of _I. molucca_ of Australia, Papuasia, and Ceram, which is distinguished by ten pink bars crossing the occiput and nape, and pink spots on the crown. The sexes are similar, but young Ibises are comparatively dull, and have feathered heads and necks, while crests and ornamental plumes are generally absent. In immature examples of _Ibis_ and elsewhere the head and neck are black and white, in _Nipponia_ the plumage is apparently grey, in _Eudocimus_ chiefly brown. Sub-fam. 2. _Plataleinae._–Spoonbills are shy gregarious birds, frequenting creeks of the sea or marshes, where they may be seen wading ankle-deep in water, hunting for the fish, frogs, crustaceans, molluscs, beetles, and insect-larvae on which they live, or searching the ground in drier spots. They walk sedately, and fly with easy flapping action and outstretched head and legs, now and then rising spirally to float aloft; while swimming, perching, or standing on one leg are ordinary habits. In feeding, the beak is moved from side to side in semicircular fashion, the body acting in unison. There are no true vocal muscles, the voice being a harsh quack or deep Heron-like note; but a clattering of the bill is heard at times, less noisy than in Storks. The nest, when in reed-beds, is a mass of twigs, flags, and the like, placed on the ground or on low bushes; but it is commonly a large platform of sticks in a tree, the three to five roughish eggs being dull white with red-brown spotting. Colonies are nearly always formed. _Platalea leucorodia_, the Spoonbill, which once bred regularly in England, ranges over Central and Southern Europe and Northern Africa, to Central Asia, Ceylon, and China; _P. regia_ inhabits Australia, and probably Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, and New Guinea, straying also to New Zealand; _P. minor_ occurs in China, Corea, Japan, and Formosa; _P. alba_ in the Ethiopian Region with Madagascar. The plumage is white, with bare lores orbits, and throat, and a fine nuchal crest in the breeding season, the fore-neck being tinged with buff, except in the last-named. {104}[Illustration: FIG. 30.–Spoonbill. _Platalea leucorodia._ × ⅙.]