438 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



account of the peculiar gait, which bears a fanciful resem- 

 blance to the measured pacing of an officer on parade. Like 

 all the Storks, they have large bodies and very long legs, but 

 they have outstripped all their relatives in the enormous size 

 of the beak. The features which have earned this unenviable 

 reputation for ugliness are the peculiarly unkempt and 

 unwashed appearance of the head and neck. These are but 

 scantily clothed in very shabby, brown-looking down-feathers; 

 and the neck is made still more, we might almost say, 



repulsive by the presence of a 

 large bare pouch, which can 

 be distended with air to an 

 enormous size at will. The 

 Arabs, on accountof this pouch, 

 call the species resident with 

 them " The Father of the 

 Leather Bottle." Some, how- 

 ever, say that the correct trans- 

 lation of the native name 



Phota hi IV. P. Danda, F.Z.\. 



ADJUTANT-STORK 



T/ie curioui "^umd bag ii icell shoivn 



would be " The Father of the 

 Beak." But it is not only on 

 account of their scavenginp 

 propensities that the adjutants 

 are esteemed, for it is from 

 the under tail-coverts of these 

 birds that the much-prized 

 " marabou " or " comercolly " 

 feathers arc obtained — at least 

 the finest kinds ; for some 

 appear to be furnished by that chief of scavengers, the vulture. 

 More precious still " is the celebrated stone called Zahir 

 mora, or poison-killer, of great virtue and repute as an anti- 

 dote to all kinds of poison," to be procured only by splitting 

 open the head of the bird before death. Needless to say, 

 the existence of this stone lives only in popular superstition, 

 though how many poor birds have fallen victims thereto is 

 not pleasant to contemplate. 



Adjutants choose almost inaccessible pinnacles of rock on 



Pholt ky IV. P. Uanda, F.Z.S. 



ADJUTANT-STORK 



TJiis shows the bird in a rather unusual 

 attitude 



Phtto by SthoLisik Photo. Co. 



JABIRU STORK 



This bird stands bettvecn .f and ^ feet hi^h- 



