320 HISTORY or 



In this chapter of foreign birds of the crane kind, it will be 

 proper to mention the Jabiru and the Jabiru Guacu, both natives 

 of Brazil. Of these great birds of the crane kind we know but 

 little, except the general outline of their figure, and the enormous 

 , bills which we often see preserved in the cabinets of the curious. 

 The bill of the latter is red, and thirteen inches long ; the bill of 

 the former is black, and is found to be eleven. Neither of them, 

 however, are of a size projjortioned to their immoderate length 

 of bill. — The jabiru guacu is not above the size of a common 

 stork, while the jabiru with the smallest bill exceeds the size of 

 a swan. They are both covered with white feathers, except the 

 head and neck, that are naked ; and their principal difference is 

 in the size of the body and the make of the bill ; the lower chap 

 of the jabiru guacu being broad, and bending upwards.* 



attempting to kill some of them with his gun, missed his shot several times ; 

 which the bye-standers observed with the greatest satisfaction, telling him 

 triumphantly that he might shoot at them as long as he pleased, but he 

 never would be able to kill them. 



Gigantic cranes are found in companies ; and when seen at a distance, 

 near the mouths of rivers, coming towards an obser\'er, (which they do 

 with their wings extended,) it is said that they may be easily mistaken for 

 canoes on the surface of a smooth sea ; and when on the sand-banks, for 

 men and women picking up shell-fish on the beach. 



* The Jabirus are not considered by lUiger and Temrainck, as forming a 

 distinct genus from the storks. But Linnaeus, Latham, Lacepede, and other 

 oniithnlogists, have not hesitated to form a separate genus of ttiis bird, 

 under the name of Mvctehia, giving as the principal character the slight 

 recurvation of the bill upwards. In other respects, the characters of the 

 jabirus resemble those of the storks. 



The American Jubiru is described by Azara under the name of Collier 

 Rouge, and is called in Paraguay Aiaiai. It also inhabits Brazil, where it 

 is named Jabiru Gtuicu, and is found in some other parts of South America. 

 It is the Negro of the Hollanders, and the Touyouyou of the native tribes of 

 French Guiana. It is one of the largest and strongest of shore-birds. It is 

 mounted on very high stilts, and its body is as bulky and more elongated 

 than that of the swan. The skin of the neck is wrinkled, and so flaccid that 

 it depends like the dew-lap of a cow. This circumstance hiis given rise to 

 the name of Jabiru, which in the language of the Guaranis signifies any 

 thing inflated by the wind. The legs, very robust, are covered with large 

 Bcales, and denuded of feathers for about the space of six inches. 



The jabirus constantly inhabit the h\unid grounds of South America, and 

 are found in considerable abundance in the inundated savannalis of Guiana. 

 They never quit their sojourn but to rise slowly into the heights of the at- 

 mosphere, where they suppiirt themselves for a very long time. These 

 birds are voracious, and live only on fish and reptiles. They construct, on 

 lofly trees, with loug branches carefully interlaced, a spacious nest, in wliich 



