Ornithology of the "Egyptian Soudan. 375 



wing, unless put up by our steamer. On one occasion, how- 

 ever, I saw an individual soaring in circles high in the air like 

 an Adjutant. Lieut. Fell, R.N., tells me that he has occa- 

 sionally noticed the same habit. I believe the stories about 

 Balceniceps crushing shell-fish to be a myth. After a con- 

 siderable experience of this bird in captivity I have never 

 known it attempt to eat shell-fish that were offered it. The 

 bird is a fisher pure and simple, but, doubtless, like a Heron, 

 will eat any small mammal or young water-bird that comes 

 within its reach. Heron-like, Balmiiceps, instead of searching 

 for his prey, waits patiently for it to come to him. He is 

 generally to be seen standing motionless on newly-burnt 

 swampy ground or short grass flooded with an inch or two 

 of water, inside the fringe of papyrus or " um suf" sudd 

 which separates the channel of the Bahr-el-Ghazal from the 

 plains. I never saw the bird actually wading in water. 

 It almost invariably stands in the same attitude, with the 

 great bill resting on the breast. Its' food consists prin- 

 cipally of Polypterus senegalus, which, wanders a great deal 

 into flooded grass-land. Sometimes the bird will perch on 

 the top of a tree, but trees are scarce in its haunts. Its 

 Might is heavy, but powerful ; the neck is drawn back like a 

 Heron's, the bill resting downwards against the breast. The 

 first few primaries are widely separated in flight, as in an 

 Adjutant rather than a Heron ; indeed its flight struck me 

 as more like that of an Adjutant than that of the Giant 

 Heron, to which Captain Flower compares it. 



The Arabic name of the bird is "Abu markub" (Father 

 of a slipper), and. not, as given by Sir Harry Johnston, 

 "Abu merkab" (Father of a boat). 



In captivity the Whale-headed Stork seems to do well. 

 Sir Reginald and Lady Wingate have been successful in 

 keeping one alive at the Palace in Khartoum for three 

 years. Photographs of this specimen have been published in 

 various papers, and once in ' The Ibis ' *. It was originally 

 brought down from the Bahr-el-Ghazal by Col. Sparkes, 

 C.M.G., who had tipped its wing with a rifle-shot, and it is, 

 * See Ibis 1002, p. 528. 



