172 NATURAL HI STORY OF BIRDS. 



iiumoroiis ]H"Culiarit"u'S lu'siilcs, which warrant iis in n-gariliny it as the type of a 

 8ej)aratc family. 



The first feature to attract our attention in tliis singular hinl, of wliioJi an excellent 

 illustration faces this jiajje, is the enormous hill, bmail and swollen, justifyinj,' the 

 ex])ression of Prof. Parker that i\\c Ihdiritkeps has "in its strange eountenanee an 

 artistic, if not a family likeness to the crocodile." Most interesting is the groove 

 along the culmen, ami the liooked nail at the end, showing a near approach to similar 

 features in the unilirctle. The tarsi are reticulate, the anterior toes are entirely 

 deprived of basal nu'nihraues, and the middle claw is not jiectinate. In the jtterylosis it 

 agrees with tlie herinis in possessing powder-do«n tracts, of whidi, however, it 

 only has one |)air. The skull has hccn considcraVily modifieil in consefjuetice of 

 the exaggerated development of the hill. Otherwise the shoe-liill, in its skeleton, 

 shows many near affinities to the herons, hut the sternal ajiparatus is rather stork-like, 

 with some very reiriarkalile peculiarities of its own, as shown hy the following, which 

 is selected frotn Prof. Parker's moncgrapli: In Ji<ihniir(j>g \\v encounter a host of 

 difficulties, both in the breast-bone and also in the furculum, although its gener.-d 

 shape and jiroportions agree well with that of the gigantic storks. The costal jiro- 

 cesses are ex.actly like those of the adjut:int, bnt the episternal ]irocess, which is dis- 

 tinct in the adjut.-uit and long in the typical herons, is not differentiated in liiilifiti- 

 ceps. In parrots, woodpeckeis, and horn-bills, that emargination is absent which 

 separates the episternum in nio.st birds from the tip of the sternal keel. The same 

 thing occurs in the ISiiln uiaps ; so that in this wader, as well as in those arboreal 

 birds, the keel of the sternum jtrojects some distance in front of the coracoid grooves. 

 In most of the larger herons and in the storks, the end of the furculum has a gliding, 

 synovial joint with the tip of the keel of the breast-bone; and this appears to be 

 persistent even in very old birds. The same thing occurs in gannets and in cormo- 

 rants. In .several other birds the joint becomes obliterated in full age; for instance, 

 in the cranes. Rut in the young JlaliFiiireps not only is all trace of a joint gone, but 

 the amount of ossification and the actu:il strength of this part are very strong; 

 indeed, it is a seven-tinies-strengthened anchylosis. In some of the storks there are 

 very small rmliments of a pair of sub-nu'sial emarginations besides the l;n-ge lateral 

 ones. In Bnln uici'ps, however, these notches are nearly half an inch broad, while the 

 outer notch is nine lines across. 



In 1800 Mr. J. Petherick, then English consid for the Sudan, brought to the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in London two shoe-bills, at which occasion he gave the following 

 account of these birds, which at the time caused an intense interest in ornithological 

 circles : — 



"The liirds here are seen in clusters of from a jiair to perha]js one hundred 

 together, mostly in the w.'iter, and, when disturbed, will tly low over its sm-face, and 

 settle at no great distance ; but if frigiitetieil or tired at, they rise in a flock high in the 

 air, and, after hovering and wheeling around, will settle on the highest trees, and as 

 long as their disturbers are near will not return to the water. Their food j>rincipally 

 is fish and water-snakes, which they have been seen by my men to catch and devour. 

 They will also feed on the intestines of dea«l animals, the carcases of wliich they easily 

 rip open with the strong hook of the u])per bill. The breeding-time of the liahi- 

 niceps is the rainy season, during the months of July and August, and the spot chosen 

 is in the reeds or high grass immediately on the water's edge, or on some small ele- 

 vated and dry spots entirely surrouiulcil by water." He continues to tell how he 



