38 Wonders of the Bird World 



young are neither fed nor looked after by their parents, 

 which, as they are of all ages, would be difficult. They 

 generally squat until you are within fifteen yards or so, and 

 then take wing like a Quail, never running out of danger 

 like the old birds." 



There are many forms of birds which have a perfectly 

 grotesque appearance. Such are some of the - Storks and 

 Herons, and there is no more comical-looking creature than 

 an Adjutant or Marabou Stork, examples of which are 

 nearly always en view in our Zoological Gardens. They 

 are ungainly creatures to look at, having a bare and scabby 

 head, while from the fore-neck depends a pouch which the 

 bird is able to inflate, and repulsive as this hanging sack 

 looks on the neck, it is apparently intended as a sexual 

 ornament. Not only do the bare head and neck, and the 

 ruff of white feathers round the latter, give a vulturine ap- 

 pearance to the Adjutant, but the large Indian species 

 {Leptoptilus dubius) is a Vulture in many of its habits, and 

 associates with the latter birds as a scavenger, devouring 

 carcases of dead animals and all kinds of offal. So useful 

 are the birds in this respect, that in many parts of India 

 the Adjutant is protected by law. They also soar high in 

 the air like their vulturine allies, and although the only noise 

 that they make in confinement is the snapping of their 

 bills after the manner of other Storks, they are said to 

 make a grunting noise like the lowing of a buffalo during 

 the breeding season. At the latter time they resort to 

 trees and build a large nest, often in company with Pelicans, 

 though they sometimes make their nests on the bare rocks 

 at a considerable height in the mountains. 



Another grotesque-looking creature is the Shoe-bill or 

 Whale-headed Stork (Balamiceps rex), which lives in the 

 districts of the Upper Nile. Since the Soudan has been 

 so disturbed, no specimens of animals have been sent from 

 there for several vears, and it is a long time since a Shoe- 



