on the Shoebi/l.



197



5. Distribution.


General. North Equatorial Africa, very local.


Particular. In the Egyptian Sudan the Shoebill is found in

the swamps of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, from Lake No to Lake

Ambadi, Meslira-el-Relc and the Bahr-el-Djur ; and also in the

somewhat similar swamps of the Bahr-el-Gebel between Lake No

and Schambe (See P.Z.S. 1900 p. 963).


Von Heuglin in 1873 pointed out that this bird would

probably be also found to occur in the swamp regions of the

Victoria Nyanza and Lake Chad ; I do not know if its occurrence

has been confirmed in this locality, but it has been so in the

Victoria Nyanza. Sir Henry Johnston, G.C.M.G. “The Uganda

Protectorate,” 1904, I. p. 404) writes that Balae 7 iiceps is “quite

common in the creeks close to the Government station at

Entebbe,” and adds in a footnote that he believes he has himself

seen (in 1882} this bird in the marshes of the Kunene in South

West Africa, and that Sir Henry Stanley asserts it is found on

the Upper Congo.


# * s?


6 . Size. The Shoebill generally stands nearly four feet

high, but at times will stretch itself to almost five feet. The

extent from tip to tip of the wings of the specimen I measured

in the Bahr-el-Ghazal was eight feet and six inches.


The length from the point of the bill to the extremity of

the tail is given as about 46 inches in the British Museum

Catalogue. The female measured by A. L. Butler was 47 inches ;

the bird I measured was 51 inches, and Gould’s type 52 inches.

It is possible there is a difference in size in the sexes. Von

Heuglin (“ Ornithologie Nord-ost Afrika’s,” 1873, p. 1096) says:

“ The male is considerably larger than the female.”


The length from the point of the bill to the end of the

claw of the centre toe was 67 inches both in Gould’s and in my

specimen.


The great bill in my specimen was nine inches in a straight

line from gape to tip, and the culmen ten inches following the

curve to the tip ; the width of the bill at the base following the

curve of the upper mandible was ten inches.


The wing is 26 to 30 inches in length; the tail 10 to 12^

inches; the tibia 13 to 15 inches; the tarsus 10 to 12J inches.



