ON THE FORMER NESTING OF THE SPOONBILL
IN THE COUNTY OF SUSSEX.
By the Editor.
Although the Spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia, is generally classed amongst the rarer British birds, instances of its occurrence in this country in spring and autumn are not infrequent. This is more particularly the case in the eastern and south-eastern counties of England, where scarcely a year elapses without several of these birds being seen, and most of them unfortunately shot. Occasionally they arrive in small flocks, but are more often observed singly or in pairs.[1] This return year by year, with a certain amount of regularity, seems to indicate a lingering inherited impulse to revisit the spots where in former days their ancestors not only reared their young in safety, but were protected the while by Act of Parliament.
Records, however, of the former nesting of the Spoonbill in this country are extremely rare, and putting aside certain old Statutes which provided for the protection of this species amongst others during the breeding season, and from which it is therefore to be inferred that the bird once nested here, I have not until recently met with any direct evidence on the subject, except that of Sir Thomas Browne, the celebrated physician of Charles the Second's day.
The testimony of this trustworthy observer on the subject is very clear. In his 'Account of Birds found in Norfolk,' written about the year 1668,[2] he particularly mentions, "The Platea or Shovelard which build upon the tops of high trees," and says, "They have formerly built in the Hernery at Claxton and Reedham; now at Trimley, in Suffolk. They come in March, and are shot by fowlers, not for their meat, but the handsomeness of the same; remarkable in their white colour, copped crown, and spoon or spatule-like bill."
- ↑ In 1850 half-a-dozen Spoonbills arrived in Sandwich Haven during the first week in June, and afterwards betook themselves to Wingham Marshes, where several were eventually shot. (See 'Zoologist,' 1850, p. 2853.) The following year, on the 3rd October, three were killed out of a flock of six which had alighted in a field near Hailsham. (See 'Zoologist,' 1851, p. 3278.)
- ↑ See Sir Thomas Browne's Works. Ed. Wilkin, vol. iv. pp. 313—324.
