File:Lost and vanishing birds; being a record of some remarkable extinct species and a plea for some threatened forms (1898) (14751579635).jpg

Identifier: lostvanishingbir00dixo (find matches)
Title: Lost and vanishing birds; being a record of some remarkable extinct species and a plea for some threatened forms
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Dixon, Charles, 1858-1926
Subjects: Birds -- England Extinct birds
Publisher: London, J. Macqueen
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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e belly,and pale chestnut on the under tail coverts. Thefemale closely resembles the male in colour. Thetotal length of the bird is about five and a halfinches. THE SPOONBILL (platALE A LEUCORODIA) A LTHOUGH the Spoonbill is still an abnormalvisitor at irregular intervals to our islands,it must now be regarded as another of our lostBritish birds. We do not share the recentlyexpressed opinion of an eminent naturalist, thatthese accidentally occurring individuals woulddoubtless once again take up their residenceamongst us; for what we already know of thelaws of avine dispersal is diametrically opposedto such a proceeding. These odd wandering Spoon-bills that from time to time pay us their uncertainand irregular visits are migrants out of theirproper course, not pioneers in quest of pasturesnew; and these, we doubt not, will gradually ceaseto be noticed in England at all as the bird becomesextinct in Holland, its last stronghold in North-western Europe, and where most of its breeding- 48
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> < Q Z UJQ O UJXH ■ \L PARK, ■^ THE SPOONBILL 49 places are gradually being destroyed. We haveample evidence to show that the Spoonbill wasformerly widely if locally distributed over thesouthern and eastern portions of England and inthe south of Wales. In England, in the oldendays, the Spoonbill was known by the names of Popeler, Shovelard, and Shoveler, whilst theDuck known to us by the latter term was thencalled a Spoonbill. We learn many interestingfacts about the Spoonbill from ancient records—that it used to build in company with Herons inNorfolk and Suffolk; that earlier still there werecolonies of Spoonbills established at Fulham inMiddlesex, and in some of the woods of WestSussex. There are also records of this speciesbreeding in trees in Pembrokeshire. The lastbreeding - place of the Spoonbill in England ofwhich we appear to have any record was atTrimley in Suffolk. This was about the year1670. It is difficult to assign any reason for theSpoonbills extinction in

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