XXVIII 



BEAKS 



339 



which has a beak like a nut-cracker, for the mandibles 

 cannot be closed in the middle, lives on frogs and 

 fishes, but its favourite food consists of fresh-water 

 molluscs, especially AmpuUaria, the shells of which it 

 can crush with this powerful beak. On account of its 

 cleverness in this direction it has been called the 

 " shell-ibis." 



The shafts of the feathers on the fore-neck and 

 lower parts of the Open-bill expand in the adult bird 

 into flat, shining, horn-like plates at the tip. This 

 terminal expanded portion is 

 also partly twisted on its axis. 



These birds breed in society 

 at certain localities among the 

 reeds. The places are known 

 to the chiefs, who, at particular 

 times of the year, gather most 

 of the young. The chicks are 

 very fat, and when roasted are 

 esteemed one of the dainties of 

 the Barotse Valley (Living- 

 stone). 



All educated men and women 

 who visit the Nile Valley take 

 keen interest in the Sacred Ibis. 

 This bird was regarded with great veneration by the 

 ancient Egyptians. Ornithologists are satisfied that 

 Ibis cethiopicus is identical with the sacred ibis of the 

 Egyptians : in the form of Toth they deified this bird, 

 and its body was often mummified (Ibis mummies). 

 The adult bird has a bare black head which earned 

 for it the name of Chimney Sweeper from the Dutch 

 in South Africa. Young birds have the head covered 

 with short feathers, and the head becomes bald about 

 the second or third year. The bill is long, strong, and 

 curved downwards like that of the curlew ; its chief 

 peculiarity is a longitudinal groove on each side, leading 

 from the nostrils at the base to near its tip. 



z 2 



The shell of Ampidlaria, the 

 favourite food of the Open-bill. 



