36 LEAVES FROM THE 



©rntthological writers of the day. Its likenj^ss illus- 

 trates the works of Bennett, Selby, Gould, Meyer, and 

 Yarrell. 



Truly Brahminical and reflective is the air of one of 

 these old stagers. Motionless in the attitude above de- 

 scribed stands the black philosopher. It is a lovely 

 summer's day, but the sun and the gentle breeze floating 

 the clouds under the blue sky move him not. A slight 

 motion in the eye may be detected as one of the giddy 

 young sparrows with which the Zoological Garden is 

 infested flits by, but he stirs not. At last a luckless 

 new-fledged one passes within reach of our philo- 

 sopher. Quick as thought the trenchant bill is clarted 

 forward, and — crack! — the little bird is seized and 

 swallowed. 



Gesner recomm^ends that the bird should be first 

 boiled and then roasted. He describes the flesh as of a 

 reddish tinge like that of a salmon, and to his taste it 

 seemed good and sweet; but he adds that the skin is 

 very tough, and if this were to be taken off there would, 

 probably, be no need of the boiling. 



The visitors to the Garden in the Regent's Park will 

 have noticed a queer, uncouth, bald, scabrous-headed 

 feathered form, with an enormous beak, now marching 

 in comic stateliness, at another time standinsf on one or 

 two stilts of legs with an air of drunken gravity, and 

 again seated with the whole length of legs stretched out 

 and resting upon them, as the black stork is above 

 described to have rested. It is now some sixty years since 

 this odd form was first introduced to the ornithologists 

 of this country. At first it was commonly known by the 

 name of the ' Adjutant,' the title conferred on it in Cal- 

 cutta. Dr. Latham first described this Bengal adjutant, 

 the argala of the natives, in his general synopsis, as 

 'the gigantic crane.' But, in truth, there are no less 



