Shoe-bill 



49 



Parker argued for a distinct relationship between them, it is improbable that 

 they could have been derived from a common ancestor, but on the other hand 

 the points of agreement with the Night Heron (N ycticorax] are so numerous 

 and important as to leave no doubt as to the direction we must look for affinity. 

 In fact, some systematists, regarding the Boat-bill as merely a Night Heron with 

 an exaggerated bill, decline to accord it more than subgeneric rank under Nycti- 

 corax, but as Mr. Ridgway has shown, it has become modified and specialized 

 in so many ways and so important features, besides the bill and the consequent 

 alteration of the skull, that it seems well entitled to separate family rank. 



THE SHOE-BILL 



(Family Balccnicipitida} 



A very remarkable bird, indeed, is the great Shoe-bill, or Whale-head of the 

 Upper White Nile, and well entitled to be ranked as the sole representative of 

 a family. This bird is about four feet in height, with very long legs, rather 

 short neck and large head, which is provided at the back with a short, bushy 

 crest; but the most marked feature is the immense, broad, flattened bill. This 

 bill, which is eight inches or more in length, is concave in profile, with a ridge 

 down the center of the upper mandible, which is prolonged at the tip into a nail 

 or hook. The wings are long and broad, with the third and fourth quills long- 

 est ; the tail is rather short and composed of twelve feathers. The general color 

 of the plumage is ashy gray above, the mantle, scapulars, and wing-coverts 

 having a slight greenish gloss, and paler gray below, the feathers of the fore 

 neck and breast each with a dark stripe along the center. The feet and legs 

 are leaden black in color, and the iris sometimes pale yellowish or occasionally 

 grayish white. But a single species (Balaniceps rex) is known. 



The systematic position of the Shoe-bill has given rise to considerable dis- 

 cussion, though now it is pretty generally agreed that its closest affinity is with 

 the Herons, with which it agrees in having powder-down patches on the rump; 

 bare loral spaces, the right lobe of the liver largest, and the caecum single. Ac- 

 cording to Parker, who was the first to describe the skeleton, "the nearest rela- 

 tions of Bal&niceps are the South American Boat-bill and the little South African 

 Umbrette (Scopus umbretta)," though Beddard is of the opinion that it "requires 

 further study before its exact position can be determined." 



According to Mr. John Petherick, who was one of the first to observe these 

 remarkable birds in their native haunts, they are "seen in clusters of from a pair 

 to perhaps one hundred together, mostly in the water, and when disturbed will 

 fly low over its surface, and settle at no great distance; but if frightened and 

 fired at, they rise in flocks high up in the air, and, after hovering and wheeling 

 around, will settle on the highest trees, and as long as their disturbers are near 

 will not return to the water. Their roosting place at night is, to the best of my 

 belief, on the ground. Their food principally is fish and water-snakes, which they 

 have been seen by my men to catch and devour. They will also feed on the 



