68 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The material consisted, so far as could be seen with glasses from the ground, of 

 large sticks which formed a great mass and resembled pictures commonly shown 

 of nests of the common white stork of Europe. Both parents remained standing 

 on the nest while I was near and they kept up a continual snapping of their im- 

 mense bills, plainly to be heard where I was. The date was October 31, 1912 

 and I do not know whether the nest contained eggs or young birds but imagine 

 eggs because other forms of water birds such as herons, bitterns, etc., were found 

 elsewhere with eggs at about this time. 



Eggs. — In the Hagmann (1906) collection are eight eggs of the jab- 

 iru, two sets of three and one of two, of which he says (translated by 

 Mr. Penard) : "Two of the clutches were taken on July 29, 1905, all 

 the eggs being slightly incubated. The third clutch I myself took 

 on August 3, 1905, two eggs of which were still fresh, the third being 

 decidedly incubated." He describes them as "short and wide, large 

 end hardly distinguishable from the small end." The shell is "com- 

 paratively thick, finely enchased; in two eggs of the same clutch the 

 pole-zones are strikingly coarse granular." The color is " dirty grayish- 

 white, with some yellow, without any markings whatever." The 

 measurements of the eight eggs average 73.4 by 58.2 milhmeters; they 

 vary in length from 75.3 to 71.5, and in breadth from 60.5 to 55 mill- 

 imeters. An egg in the United States National Museum, from British 

 Guiana, measures 71.7 by 54.8 millimeters; it fits the above descrip- 

 tion very well. Hagmann (1907) found four young in one nest. Two 

 eggs in the Penard collection are larger than the above; one is rather 

 pointed oval and measures 93 by 59 millimeters and the other is ellip- 

 tical measuring 89 by 59 millimeters. 



Young. — Richard Schomburgk (1848) says of the young (trans- 

 lated by Mr. Penard) : 



The number of young, which do not leave the nest until January or February, 

 is usually two, seldom three. Both sexes incubate, taking turns, and as soon as 

 one has satisfied its hunger it returns to the nearest branch on the nesting tree 

 to keep its mate company, or in case of threatened danger which they frequently 

 suffer from tiger-cats and monkeys, to give protection. Shy as we have found 

 the bird on the Savanna, it was the more noticeable that it fearlessly watched 

 our noisy doings under the tree on which its nest was built. Love for its eggs 

 and young caused it to pay no attention to the threatened danger. 



C. A. Lloyd (1895) writes: 



The young birds make their appearance about the end of October and are then 

 the size of young ducks, and covered with a grayish-white down. They are un- 

 able at first either to stand or squat up, but lie in the nest stretched at full 

 length, with their heads on one side as if lifeless. The beak at this stage is per- 

 fectly straight, showing not the slightest indication of the upward curve at the 

 tip characteristic of the adult bird. When the nesting tree is approached the 

 mother bird stands upright in the nest as a signal to her mate, which is never far 

 oflF. He hastens at once to her side and strutting up and down, claps his mandi- 

 bles together with a loud defiant click that can be heard some distance away. 

 The young birds grow rapidly and in a few weeks are nearly the size of their 

 parents, but their bodies are still too heavy to be supported by their long weak 

 legs, and not until the first plumage is complete are they able to stand upright 



