70 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tinged or washed with pale "wood brown"; all of the feathers of the 

 upper parts have a silvery sheen; the under parts are white. 



Food. — Mr. Pemberton refers in his notes to the feeding habits of 

 the Jabiru, as follows : 



When feeding in the meadows the birds work singly. Fish are proably eaten 

 least of all for never was a bird seen frozen after the fashion of a heron near 

 water but they were always walking alertly, peering this way and that, with a 

 frequent stab into the ground, often making great jumps after some rapidly 

 moving prey. The only food actually seen eaten consisted of snakes and I sup- 

 pose that these together with other reptiles and batrachians form the greater 

 part of their diet. On one occasion a gigantic bird standing near me was seen 

 to toss a writhing serpent fully 6 feet in length into the air, catch it, thrash it 

 on the ground a few times, shake and generally maltreat it before finally placing 

 it on the ground where it was doubtless then torn into segments, for it would be 

 physically impossible to swallow entire such a large snake. A Maguari stork 

 (Euxenura maguari) which I killed in Patagonia contained among other things 

 a large rail intact in its gullet, in fact the plumage was scarcely ruffled and no 

 apparent injuries could be found on its body. This leads me to believe that 

 the jabiru, which is a larger bird even than the Maguari stork, will catch and 

 devour almost any form of animal life which it can catch. Thus reptiles, batra- 

 chians, mammals, fish, and birds must form its principal diet because all of 

 these live in abundance in the moist meadows where the bird was seen feeding. 



Mr. Robert H. Schomburgk (1840) speaks of a captive bird which 

 attacked a cage containing an opossum "and having seized the poor 

 animal with its beak, drew it by force through the bars of its cage, 

 and swallowed it without further hesitation." He also says: 



A species of AmpuUaria (greyanensis) is found in prodigious numbers in the 

 lakes and swamps, as well as in the rivulets which meander through the savan- 

 nahs, and it appears they constitute the chief food of the jabiru. In spite of 

 their unshapely beak, they are able to remove the operculum most admirably, 

 and to draw the mollusc out of its shell. I have found it difficult to procure 

 perfect specimens of that AmpuUaria for my collections, although shells partly 

 broken or devoid of the operculum covered the low savannahs extensively while 

 in other parts I found the opercula equally numerous, but no shells. 



Behavior. — The same writer refers ^1840) to the behavior of jabirus 

 in the following interesting manner: 



When the waters subside after the annual inundations, they frequent in small 

 groups the sand banks of the river Rupunny in search of crustaceous animals. 

 Nothing can surpass the gravity with which thej' stalk along; their measured 

 step and upright bearing frequently amused my military companion while on our 

 first expedition in the interior, who was forcibly reminded of the parade, so that 

 he could not refrain while passing the beach from giving these feathered recruits 

 the word of command, and they ever afterwards among ourselves went by the 

 name of his recruits. Before they rise on the wing they prepare for their flight 

 by taking two or three hops, by which they are better enabled to get on the 

 wing. Their flight is light and graceful; and before they alight, or when rising, 

 they first wheel round the place in gyral motions, either lessening or extending 

 the circles according as it is their intention to do the former or the latter. 

 They soar uncommonly high, and might vie with the eagle. Indeed they appear 

 as a mere speck in the air. It is a beautiful sight to see a numerous flock on 



