500 



ARDEID^E ; STORK, ADJUTANT, IBIS. 



of miles, the same pairs of Storks will regularly return to the 

 habitations they had previously tenanted. The Adjutant-Stork, 

 or Arc/ala, of India, is remarkable on several accounts. Its size 

 is very great ; its ordinary height in 

 the erect attitude being five feet; its 

 length from the tip of the bill to the 

 claws being seven feet and a half ; 

 and the spread of its wings being 

 fourteen or fifteen feet. The beak is 

 of enormous size and strength ; the 

 head is large ; and the neck propor- 

 tionally muscular. The head and 

 neck are nearly .bare of skin ; and 

 from the under part of the neck 

 there hangs a large pouch of skin, 

 like a dewlap, which is capable of 

 being inflated, and which gives to 

 the Bird a very strange appearance. 

 The Adjutant is a native of the 

 warmer parts of India ; and is very 

 useful in removing noxious animals 

 and carrion, which it devours with 

 great voracity. It swallows snakes, lizards, frogs, &c. ; as well 

 as offal of all kinds ; and in the craw of one of these birds has 

 been found a land tortoise ten inches long, together with the 

 entire body of a large black cat. In its wild state, it usually 

 lives in companies ; and chiefly frequents the mouths of rivers ; 

 it may be readily domesticated, but is very apt to display its 

 voracity by purloining articles of food, and makes no difficulty 

 in swallowing a leg of mutton, a fowl, or a hare,' at one mouthful. 

 From this Bird, and from an allied species in Senegal, the 

 beautiful Marabou feathers are obtained. The Ibises have long 

 arched bills, with a blunt point ; in their general conformation 

 and habits, they closely approach the Storks (Fig. 188). One 

 species, which inhabits Egypt, is celebrated as the Sacred His of 

 tha ancient Egyptians, who entertained it in their temples with 

 the observances oi religious worship, embalmed it after death, 



FIG. 284. PoucHKD ADJUTANT. 



