3i?2 SXAKES 



Grravely, "with measured step and slow," like a Grerman 

 philosopher cogitating over the nature of the absolute, but, as 



we shall presently see, much more 

 profitably engaged, the adjutant 

 wanders among the reeds on the 

 banks of the muddy Ganges. The 

 aspect of this colossal bird, measuring 

 six feet in height and nearly fifteen 

 from tip to tip of the wings, is far 

 from being comely, as his enormous 

 bill, his naked head and neck, except 

 a few straggling curled hairs, his large 

 craw hanging down the forepart of the 

 Adjutant. j^g^j^ jjj^g ^ pouch, and his long naked 



legs, are certainly no features of beauty. Suddenly he stops, 

 dips his bill among the aquatic plants, and immediately raises it 

 again triumphantly into the air, for a long snake, despairingly 

 twisting and wriggling, strives vainly to escape from the for- 

 midable pincers which hold it in carcere duro. The bird 

 throws back his head, and the reptile appears notably 

 diminished in size ; a few more gulps, and it has entirely 

 disappeared. And now the sedate bird continues his stately pro- 

 menade with the self-satisfied mien of a merchant who has just 

 made a successful speculation, and is engaged in the agreeable 

 calculation of his gains. But, lo! again the monstrous bill 

 descends, and the same scene is again repeated. The good 

 services of the giant heron in clearing the land of noxious 

 reptiles, and the havoc he is able to make among their ranks, 

 may be judged of by the simple fact, that on opening the 

 body of one of them, a land-tortoise ten inches long and a large 

 black cat were found entire within it, the former in the pouch, 

 as a kind of stock in trade, the latter in the stomach, all ready 

 for immediate consumption. 



Trusting to his agility and the certainty of his eye, the 

 Indian ichneumon or mongoos attacks without hesitation the 

 most venomous serpents. The cobra, which drives even the 

 leopard to flight, rises before the little creature with swelling 

 hood and fury in its eye ; but swift as thought, the ichneumon, 

 avoiding the death-stroke of the projecting fangs, leaps upon its 



