. The sportsman's British bird book . - of therarer species of birds tomake their appearanceonce more on the Norfolkcoast, and among thesewelcome strangers duringthe last few \cars havebeen a considerable num-ber of spoonbills. In May 1904 there were seen, for instance, no lessthan seven of these beautiful birds at one time on Brcydon Broad,while a month later four were seen in company at the same place,three of which were believed to be new arrivals. Although such resultsare highly encouraging, it can scarcely be anticipated that the spoon-bill will ever again become a British-breeding bird.
. The sportsman's British bird book . - of therarer species of birds tomake their appearanceonce more on the Norfolkcoast, and among thesewelcome strangers duringthe last few \cars havebeen a considerable num-ber of spoonbills. In May 1904 there were seen, for instance, no lessthan seven of these beautiful birds at one time on Brcydon Broad,while a month later four were seen in company at the same place,three of which were believed to be new arrivals. Although such resultsare highly encouraging, it can scarcely be anticipated that the spoon-bill will ever again become a British-breeding bird. From time totime a stray individual of the species is seen in counties other thanof East Anglia, an example having been recorded from Surre\-, forinstance, in 1902. To Scotland the spoonbill appears to have beennever anjthing more than a rare and occasional visitor, and then. ■-Il . SPOONBILL. 263 mainly, if not entirely, to the estuaries of the east coast ; it is note-worthy, however, that in the autumn of 1859 ^ flock of half-a-scorevisited the Orkneys, whence few of them were permitted to return. ToIreland this bird has likewise always been only an occasional visitor. The proper range of the species includes the whole of central andsouthern Europe, together with eastern Africa, the south-westerncountries of Asia, and thence through Baluchistan, Afghanistan, andthe heart of the eastern continent to India and China. In parts ofIndia spoonbills are resident birds, frequenting marshes, tanks, rivers,or rice-fields in small flocks, and feeding in shallow water on insects,shrimps and crabs, snails, water-plants, and, less commonly, frogs andsmall fishes. To Holland and other parts of northern Europe thespecies is a summer-visitor, arriving in April and departing towardsthe close of September. It is somewhat remarkable that while in Indiaat the prese
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