200



0 ?i the Shoebill .



as a rule each Shoebill ignores the presence of the others, and all

three birds stand as far apart from each other as the limits of

their paddock allow.


The Shoebill is capable of inflicting a very powerful bite,

and is by no means a safe bird for a stranger ignorant of its ways

to approach, a fact which we often have to impress on amateur

photographers anxious to obtain “snap-shots” of Balaeniceps at

close quarters. It has been amusing to see how rapidly in some

cases their enthusiasm has waned, when (as requested) confronted

with the great bird screaming shrill defiance and crouching as if

about to spring, with gaping bill and half spread wings. On the

other hand, to known friends the Shoebill can make himself

quite amiable, and is evidently pleased by being taken notice of

and talked to.


The point of the upper mandible is used to preen the

feathers, and not, I believe, to open shell-fish as has been stated.

A. L. Butler believes “the stories about Balaeniceps crushing

shell-fish to be a myth.”


In the Bahr-el-Ghazal we believe their food consists princi¬

pally of fish, which forms their sole food in captivity. They

have, as before remarked, an unpleasant habit of disgorging their

food before finally swallowing and retaining it. Sometimes they

occupy themselves pretending to eat a twig or large leaf, re¬

peatedly picking it up and dropping it again.


The solitary and shy habits of this bird in a wild state

have been noted by myself (P.Z.S., 1900, p. 963) and b} r A. L-

Butler (Ibis, 1905, p. 374, etc.) In captivity one of our birds will

occasionally perch on a low shrub in their paddock ; they are

not pinioned, but have some of the primary feathers of the left

wing periodically cut, at times the cutting not having been done

soon enough one or other of the birds has flown out of the

paddock, but on these occasions they have never attempted to

roost in the trees but have settled on other lawns in the Giza

Gardens and been recaptured by stalking and then running them

down before they had time to rise off the ground. I do not

suppose that this would be possible in a really fully winged bird,'

nor would the nature of the ground they frequent in a wild state

allow a man to run fast enough.



