The Wit of the Wild 



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eagles for a century until recently, when the 

 old tree fell. 



The biggest regular nest made by a single 

 pair of birds, and used only one season, is un- 

 doubtedly that of a small African wader, named 

 by the early ornithologists umbrette (Scopus 

 umbretta)) but popularly known in South 

 Africa as hammer-kop (hammer-head). It is 

 allied to the storks, yet is sufficiently distinct to 

 be set apart in a family by itself, and is about 

 the size of a raven, but in shape and carriage 

 suggests an overgrown sandpiper. In color it 

 is umber brown, handsomely glossed with pur- 

 plish ; the bill black and feet brown. The head 

 exhibits a thick crest of feathers, which may be 

 erected uprightly, but is usually carried hori- 

 zontally, balancing the long conical beak, and 

 so giving a hammer-like outline to the head in 

 the side view. 



It is found in Madagascar and throughout 

 most of Africa, wherever wooded districts pre- 

 vail ; and its food consists of fish, reptiles, frogs, 

 worms, snails, and insects, captured alive in 

 shallow water or found dead. Sir Harry Johns- 

 *$ 230 5 



