2068 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES 



furcula having no process jutting forth into the angle. Apart from these morpho- 

 logical features, the large size of these birds, and their extraordinary beaks, render 

 them perfectly distinguishable at a glance from all their allies. The broad and de- 

 pressed beak, unlike that of the boat-billed heron, is concave in profile, with a strong 

 ridge down the middle of the upper mandible, the tip produced into a bold hook, 

 and the cutting edges highly curved, the minute nostrils being situated at its base 

 and not placed in a groove. The lower mandible is covered with a soft, leathery 

 skin for the greater part of its length, although horny at the tip. The legs are very 

 long, and naked for a considerable distance above the ankle, and the elongated toes 

 are not webbed. The long and broad wings have the third and fourth quills the 

 longest; the tail is of moderate length, with twelve feathers, and there is a short 

 bushy crest at the back of the head. The prevailing ground color of the plumage 

 is a fine ashy gray, the larger body feathers being bordered with lighter gray, and 

 the wing and tail feathers grayish black. The iris is yellow, the beak horn color, 

 and the leg and foot black. In size this bird comes between the white and the mara- 

 bou stork, although much nearer to the latter than the former. 



Known to the Arabs as abu markub (father of a shoe), this giant bird is re- 

 stricted to the White Nile and its affluents, and although everywhere rare is most 

 numerous in the districts of Kitsh and Nuer in Northern Bquatoria, where it may 

 be found either singly, in pairs, or in small companies. It always frequents regions 

 the most remote from human habitations, where it may be seen standing sometimes 

 breast deep in the water by the side of some tall papyrus stem, and frequently 

 resting on one leg only. But seldom is this bird seen away from the neighborhood 

 of tall reeds, although it sometimes takes its station on a w 7 hite-ant hill on the bank, 

 and occasionally resorts to open reaches of the river. When first disturbed by a 

 boat, it will fly off slowly above the reeds with a great noise, and again settle; but 

 if roused a second time, it rises high into the air, and will not again return to its 

 haunt until the danger is past. Its flight is not unlike that of the marabou stork, 

 but the heavy beak is generally kept resting on the crop. The only sound it utters 

 is a loud snapping of the beak, in which respect it resembles the storks. Its princi- 

 pal food is fish, in order to capture which, the bird often stands breast deep in the 

 stream with its enormous beak lowered to the surface of the water, while at other 

 times several individuals will combine to drive the fish toward the shallows by march- 

 ing in a semicircle through the water, and making a great flapping of their wings. 

 It has been asserted that these storks will kill and eat snakes, but it is probable that 

 the statement has arisen from their devouring the fish known as the bisher (Polyp- 

 terus}, which the natives sometimes term a water snake. That dead carcasses and 

 carrion are also consumed appears to be well ascertained. The breeding season 

 takes place during the rains, the nest being situated on some slight elevation among 

 the reeds, especially one surrounded on all sides by water. Here the birds collect 

 a vast quantity of stalks and water plants, often solidified with mud, so as to form 

 an accumulation of about a yard in height. The eggs, which are small in proportion 

 to the size of the bird, have thick white shells, which are, however, bluish when first 

 laid, but become brownish as incubation progresses; they are overlain with a chalky 

 coating. Young taken from the nest thrive well on a fish diet, and are easily tamed. 



