150 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



the bird from which are got the pretty, fluffy Marabou 

 feathers used by milliners for boas and trimmings. 



A distant cousin of the Adjutant is the Jabiru of 

 South America, Australia, and other places, a beautiful 

 bird with jet black and pure white plumage. 



Lastly, a word about the strangest-looking of the 

 Stork family— the WHALE-HEADED STORK, with his 

 enormous beak. He loves the warm edges of the big 

 African lakes or the steamy marshes, where food is abun- 

 dant — fish and frogs and water-snakes. Sometimes, for a 

 change, he will thrust his clumsy hooked beak into the 

 carcase of some dead animal. The hook well serves his 

 purpose, being strong, curved, and sharp as that of a bird 

 of prey. 



Sometimes two, sometimes as many as a hundred, will 

 be seen feeding together. If disturbed they rise and go 

 flying low over the water, but if they think there is real 

 danger they will soar, as the White Storks do, to a great 

 height, until the intruder has passed on. 



