THE



191



Hvtcultural flfoagasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series —VOL. VI. — No. 7 .—All rights reserved .



MAY, 1908.



THE SHOEBILL.


Balaeniceps rex.


By Capt. Stanley S. Flower.



t. History.


2. Name.


3. Captivity.


4. Affinities.


5. Distribution.



6. Size.


7. Colour.


8. Voice.


9. Habits.


10. Breeding.



1. History. On the 15th of December 1840, the German

traveller, Ferdinand Werne, was asleep in the sudd-country south

of Lake No, and on awakening was told by his Berberine

hunters that they had seen an extraordinary bird, as big as a

young camel, with a bill like a Pelican’s, though wanting a pouch.

This was apparently the first time the existence of the Shoebill

was made known to any European.


In 1848 Baron F. W. von Muller saw two of these birds

alive, but was unable to secure them. On his return to Khar¬

toum he saw two skins of the Shoebill, for which a high price

was asked, in the possession of the Italian trader Nicola Ulivi;

these were eventually purchased by Mr. Mansfield Parkyns, of

Nottingham.


On the 14th of January, 1851, at a Meeting of the Zoological

Society of London, Prof, (afterwards Sir Richard) Owen being in

the chair, Mr. John Gould read a paper “ O11 a new and most

remarkable form in Ornithology; ” and for the “ most extra¬

ordinary bird” brought to England by Mr. Parkyns proposed the

generic name of Balaeniceps , and the specific name of Rex.



