2070 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES 



jection; but it resembles them in having the rings of the bronchial tubes incomplete 

 behind, and closed with membrane. In some other parts of its internal anatomy 

 it agrees with the herons on the one hand and the storks on the other; but it differs 

 from all herons except the boatbilled species in the shortness of its triangular 

 tongue, and thereby resembles the whale head and the storks, while it is peculiar in 

 having large bare tracts on the sides of the neck. The hammerhead measures 

 about twenty-five inches in total length, and has a .somewhat cylindrical body, a 

 short and thick neck, a very large head, and a beak rather longer than the head, 

 much compressed, straight, and bent down at the tip. The legs and toes are of 

 medium length, the latter connected at their bases by a web; the wing is broad and 

 rounded, with its third quill the longest; the tail is moderately long and has twelve 

 feathers, and the contour feathers are thick and long, those on the back and sides 

 of the head being developed into a broad and bushy crest. The coloration is a 

 uniform umber brown, generally brighter on the under surface; the quills of the 

 wings being shining and darker than the back, while those of the tail have a broad 

 purplish-brown band at the tip, and smaller bars near the root. The iris is brown, 

 the beak black, and the leg and foot blackish brown or black. 



Nowhere abundant, the hammerhead is spread all over Africa, as well as 

 Madagascar and the south of Arabia; and although generally inhabiting the plains, 

 in Abyssinia ascends to an elevation of some nine thousand feet in the mountains. 

 It frequents the neighborhood of water in wooded districts, and appears to be gen- 

 erally found singly or in pairs. Resembling in many of its general habits the ibises, 

 the hammerhead when passing from lake to lake flies strongly and ascends high in- 

 to the air, and is reported to utter a kind of croaking cry. The most interesting 

 feature connected with this singular bird is, however, its nest. This is a huge, 

 dome-like structure of sticks, so firmly built that it will bear the weight of a man, 

 and frequently from a yard and a half to two yards or more in diameter. Generally 

 placed in a fork of a tree near' the ground, although sometimes in a rocky cleft, the 

 nest has a single entrance situated on its most concealed side. Internally it con- 

 tains three chambers a hall, a drawing-room, and a sleeping apartment, with 

 entrances so small that the bird can only creep in. The sleeping chamber occupies 

 the highest portion of the nest, in order to be safe from floods, and in it, upon a 

 bed of water plants are laid the white eggs, which are from three to five in number 

 and are incubated by each parent in turn. The middle chamber serves for the 

 young when they are too big for the inner one, while the hall is used as a lookout 

 station. In Angola the nests of other birds are said to be taken by the hammer- 

 head. The chief food of these birds' appears to consist generally of fish; but in some 

 districts, at least, river mussels, frogs, lizards, small snakes, and worms and 

 insects constitute a portion of the diet. Although the two members of a pair do 

 not always remain together, they appear to be associated for life; and at times the 

 two birds, or occasionally three, will go through a peculiar kind of dance-like per- 

 formance. Everywhere these birds are mainly crepuscular, and are but seldom 

 seen in the full daylight. 



