ORDER GRALLiE. 509 



inflated by the wind. The legs, very robust, are covered with 

 large scales, and denuded of feathers for about the space of 

 six inches. 



The jabirus constantly inhabit the humid grounds of 

 South America, and are found in considerable abundance in 

 the inundated savannahs of Guiana. They never quit their 

 sojourn but to rise slowly into the heights of the atmosphere, 

 where they support themselves for a very long time. These 

 birds are voracious, and live only on fish and reptiles. They 

 construct, on lofty trees, with long branches carefully in- 

 terlaced, a spacious nest, in which the female deposits but 

 one or two eggs. The young are fed with fish until they 

 are strong enough to descend from the nest, and are de- 

 fended by the parents with great courage. This nest is said 

 to serve for several broods. 



The jabirus appear to be less wild in Guiana than in 

 Paraguay. Bajon tells us that in 1773 a little negro con- 

 trived, by merely concealing his face with the branch of a 

 tree, to approach a young one that had almost acquired its 

 full growth, sufficiently near to seize it by the legs and catch 

 it. The flesh of the old is hard and oily ; but that of the 

 young is tender, and tolerably good eating. 



But one species of the Umbre is known, which has been 

 formed into a genus. The characters are — a bill thick at the 

 base, longer than the head, compressed laterally, carinated 

 above and below, with the upper mandible curving at its 

 point, and covering over the lower, which is more narrow, 

 and a little truncated ; linear nostrils, which are prolonged 

 in a furrow running parallel to the ridge of the bill as far as 

 the end. The lower part of the legs denuded of feathers ; 

 the three front toes united by a membrane as far as the first 

 phalanx, and the hinder one touching the ground in its full 

 length ; the first two remiges the shortest. 



Of the only species, the Tufted Umbre (Scopus Um- 

 bretta), nothing is known respecting manners and habits. 



