SHELL- STORKS. 313 



by law in Calcutta and some other Indian cities, nothing seeming to come amiss 



to them in the way of food, from the carcase of a large animal to a dead cat, 



or from small birds to frogs and fish. Adjutants generally congregate in vast . 



flocks, although in the neighbourhood of towns solitary birds may often be 



observed, either stalking about alone or standing with outspread wings to dry 



their plumage, or perched on one leg while asleep on some building or tree. 



Their flight, although heavy and flapping, is powerful in the extreme, and they 



frequently soar at immense heights in the air, from which they descend to join 



the vultures at their feasts. Writing of the arrival of one of these birds at such 



a carnival, Sir S. Baker observes that " a pair of long, ungainly legs, hanging 



down beneath the enormous wings, now touch the ground, and abu seen has 



arrived, and he stalks proudly towards the crowds, pecking his way with his long 



bill through the struggling vultures, and swallowing the lion's share of the repast." 



In the Nidong Hills the adjutant, according to Mr. C. T. Bingham, nests in vast 



numbers during November and December, and in January the parents may be 



seen feeding the young birds on the topmost pinnacles of their almost inaccessible 



rocks. The nest is a large mass of sticks and twigs, devoid of lining, and scarcely 



any depression in the centre ; the number of eggs varying from two to four, and 



these being large chalky-white ovals. Occasionally, it is stated, the nests are 



placed in trees, and the young birds are thickly covered with flufl'y white down. 



The shell-storks or shell-ibises as they are often called, of 

 Shell storks. , . , , . . ^ . , , 7 77 . . , 



which there is one African {Anastorifius lamelhgerus) and one 



Indian species (A. oscitans), are much smaller birds than any of the preceding, 



from all of which they are at once distinguished by the two mandibles of the 



compressed and serrated beak being in the adult in contact at their two 



extremities, but gaping widely in the middle. On account of the second and 



third quills being the longest, the large wings are pointed, and the tail is short. 



Although the Indian species has a normal plumage, that of the African kind is 



remarkable in that the shafts of all the feathers of the throat, under-parts, and 



thighs are prolonged into small homy processes at their extremities. In colour 



the whole plumage is blackish with green and purple reflections ; the iris is red, 



the beak yellowish, and the leg and foot black. Young birds lack the horny 



plates at the tips of the feathers. In length the African species measures about 26 



inches. The latter species is widely distributed over Central and South Africa, 



and is also met with at Mozambique. Like its Indian congener, it feeds almost 



exclusively on molluscs, especially Ampullarice, and according to Livingstone 



breeds among reeds, although it has also been stated to nest in trees. In the 



Barotse country the breeding-places are occupied year after year by vast numbers 



of these birds, and the natives are accustomed to make a regular harvest of the 



young. With regard to the peculiar gaping of the beak. Professor Ball writes 



that " this was at one time supposed to be due to attrition of the edges, caused 



by the nature of the food upon which the bird is generally believed to subsist. 



Jerdon, however, stated that the bill of a young bird which he examined exhibited 



the same gaping. This I did not find to be the case with any of the large 



members which I saw. The bills were very much smaller than in the adult 



birds, were conical in shape, and the edges were in distinct apposition, or slightly 



