Crocodile- Birds. 315 



well exemplified by Gould in his " Birds of Asia/' 

 where, though in the background of his plate 

 representing the Egyptian plover (Pluvianus 

 ^Egyptius) he shows two of these birds entering 

 the mouth of a crocodile, and in his letterpress he 

 discusses the question whether this bird or the 

 spur-winged plover (Hoplopterus spinosus) is the 

 Trochilos of Herodotus, he tells us that he only 

 inserted the figure of the crocodile to illustrate 

 an oft-told tale, and that the point as to which 

 bird was intended is of little moment, since in 

 all probability the story is not founded on truth. 



Mr. Cook has, however, thrown new light on the 

 question, and has supplied us with direct evidence 

 that a bird, which he identifies as the spur-winged 

 plover, does enter the crocodile's mouth. It 

 appears that in the year 1876 he noticed some 

 crocodiles and several of the birds "which are 

 called by all the natives of the Nile Valley 

 crocodile-birds," on a very large sand-bank near 

 Derr (the capital of Lower Nubia), and with his 

 brother-in-law, the late Mr. J. E. Hedges, deter- 

 mined to watch them. The following is his 

 account, in a somewhat condensed form, of what 

 happened : " For this purpose, during the dark 

 hours, we had a small pit dug on the western side 

 of the large sand-bank in question, and about the 

 peep of day the following morning we ensconced 

 ourselves m the pit. . . We watched patiently 

 until about noon, when two large crocodiles came 

 out of the water on to the bank, and apparently 



