The Biggest Bird's-Nest 



r 



ton mentions that in Nyassaland these storks are 

 welcome scavengers ; and as their flesh is utterly 

 uneatable, the birds are not much molested there, 

 and therefore are far from shy in most places. 

 In South Africa, according to Layard, they 

 are regarded by the natives as the agents of 

 witches, and hence are rarely injured for fear 

 of evil consequences. It is an interesting coin- 

 cidence, pointing to cunning wisdom on the part 

 of ancient ruler-priests, that in tropical lands 

 nearly all the sacred animals are those which are 

 of practical service locally, as scavengers, or 

 destroyers of noxious snakes and crocodiles, or 

 in some other way; and at the same time have 

 no particular worth as food. It was a far-seeing 

 sagacity which prompted the thought that the 

 best way to preserve such animals, and so enjoy 

 the benefit of their work, was to throw around 

 them the shield of reverence, which in the savage 

 is superstitious fear. In the present case, never- 

 theless, the association with witchcraft may sim- 

 ply arise from the weird appearance and cries 

 of the birds, as they circle in the dusk above the 

 swamps, where they are likely to remain hid by 

 *$ 231 So- 



