THE WHALE-HEADED STORK 2067 



skillful. It may be added that in America as well as in the Old World bitterns are 

 to a certain extent migratory. 



The last member of the family to which it will be necessary to 

 allude is the remarkable boat-billed heron (Canc/troma cochlearia) of 

 South America, which, while agreeing with the other representatives 

 of the group in essential characteristics, differs by the broad head, terminating in 

 the wide and boat-like beak, from which the creature derives its name. The boat 

 bill is about the size of a night heron, and resembles the more typical members of 

 the family in the pendent plumes at the back of the head, and the presence of 

 twelve comparatively-stiff feathers in the tail. The broad beak is rounded off in 

 front, where it is somewhat bent down; the legs are rather short and feathered 

 to the ankle, with toes of moderate length; the wings are strong and large, with the 

 fourth quill the longest, and the tail is short and truncated. The crest is large, 

 and formed by the feathers of the back of the head and nape, but there are no 

 elongated plumes on the back, the front of the throat is, however, naked. In color, 

 the forehead, throat, fore-neck, and cheeks are white, the lower neck and breast 

 yellowish white, the back clear gray, the hinder region of the upper part of the 

 neck and the under parts rusty reddish brown, passing into black on the sides, and 

 the wing and tail feathers whitish gray. The iris is mostl}' brown, the beak brown 

 with a yellow border to the lower mandible, and the leg and foot yellowish. 



The savaku, as the bird is called by the natives of South America, frequents 

 the thick woods bordering the Brazilian rivers, where it may be seen either solitary, 

 or in pairs during the breeding season. These birds are more numerous in the in- 

 terior than near the coast, and may be observed either in the low bushes on the banks 

 or perched on boughs high above the river. Their food consists of various aquatic 

 creatures, especially worms, but from the conformation of their beak, which is prob- 

 ably used for groveling in the mud, it is doubtful if these birds can catch fish. Prac- 

 tically nothing has been ascertained as to their breeding habits, although it is known 

 that the eggs are uniformly white, and very similar in general appearance to those 

 of a heron. 



THE WHALE-HEADED STORK 

 Family BAL^NICIPITID^E 



The extraordinary -looking and gigantic bird known as the whale-headed, or 

 shoe-billed stork {Balceniceps rex}, which is peculiar to certain parts of Africa, forms 

 the sole representative of a distinct family, whose nearest relationship, according to 

 Mr. Beddard, appears to be with the herons, and from which family it may be a 

 highly-modified offshoot.* While agreeing with the herons in the presence of 

 powder-down patches on the rump, and the absence of bare tracts on the sides of the 

 neck, as well as in several internal features, the whale head is distinguished by the 

 absence of pectination on the claw of the third toe, and likewise in the V-shaped 



* This relationship is not admitted by Professor Newton. 



