212 BIRDS 



who was nightly charged with the task of con- 

 ducting them to their sleeping place. The birds 

 appeared to enjoy the fun as much as I did, for 

 the skill with which in turn they made their 

 guardian pursue them without drawing a step 

 nearer to the roosting place might have been the 

 result of a prearranged plot between them. 



That immense, hideous, dingy ofFal-eater, the 

 bald-headed Marabou Stork {Leptoptilus crumeni- 

 ferus), appears all over the lower country, con- 

 sorting with vultures and eagles and other birds 

 of prey. He is the largest, as he is the most 

 repulsive, of all the Ciconiidse, and his sole claim 

 to consideration consists in the exquisite white 

 plumes which he carries beneath the long, coarse, 

 slaty grey feathers of his usually bedraggled tail. 

 These are so beautiful as, in my opinion, to entirely 

 surpass (in delicacy at least) the larger feathers of 

 the Cape Ostrich. The Marabou is a shy bird, 

 and must usually be shot with a rifle ; the few 

 specimens which 1 have secured were obtained by 

 means of a '303. It seems to me that a shot-gun 

 would be almost as useless against this creature's 

 armour-like plumage and massive bones as it would 

 be against an ostrich. 



Whilst deahng with this natural division, mention 

 must be made of that wonderful representative 

 the rare Saddle-billed Stork {Mycteria). Here we 

 have beauty and bizarrerie inextricably blended, 

 grace and gaucherie curiously united. The Saddle- 

 billed Stork always appears in company with his 

 mate, and is of the purest white on breast, back, 

 &,nd belly ; the extremities of wing and tail are 



