AVES—STORK. 637 
functions of a scavenger has been repeatedly described by travellers and 
Major Denham mentions his having frequently been a witness of the vora- 
cious and omnivorous habits of the African. Nothing seems to come amiss 
to its voracious appetite, for when carrion is scarce, it attacks reptiles, smal] 
birds, and even the lesser quadrupeds, which it usually swallows entire. 
These birds are so peaceable in their manners, and so inclined to become 
familiar, that there is little difficulty in taming them. Dr Latham gives an 
amusing account, derived from Smeathman, of the behavior of a young indi- 
vidual, which had been brought up in a state of domestication in the part of 
Africa where that traveller resided. This bird always took its place a 
dinner time, in the great hall, behind its master’s chair, where it remainec. 

in expectation of its usual share in the meal. The servants had some difh- 
culty in protecting the dishes from its attacks previously to the arrival of the 
guests; they carried switches for the purpose, but it would frequently watch 
its opportunity and snatch some favorite morsel before they were aware of 
it. In this way it had been known to swallow an entire boiled fowl ata 
single mouthful. It was permitted to fly at large about the island, and 
troosted very high among the silk-cotton trees, from the tops of which, even 
54 
