CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JABIRU. 
385 
fowls in the yard attracted his attention ; he bore down upon them, 
and gave them a terrible fright, but apparently did not wish to injure 
them. A sturdy little bantam cock encountered him gallantly, and 
endeavoured to drive him back; the jabiru regarded him with con- 
temptuous indifference, but the cock having attacked him, he threw 
him on the ground. However, in a few hours jabiru and fowls thor- 
oughly understood one another. As to the other inhabitants of the 
courtyard, he troubled himself little, or not at all ; and, in return, the 
horses and other animals did not interfere with him in the slightest 
degree. On one occasion he burst into a fit of passion, bristling his 
plumage, extending his wings, and making a clacking noise with his 
beak. This was because a couple of cassowaries disturbed him with 
their curiosity and importunity ; but a single blow from his beak 
induced them to treat him with becoming respect. 
The jabiru walks with silent and measured steps ; his neck slightly 
curved back, his beak inclined towards the ground, and the lower 
mandible resting almost on the neck. Sometimes he rears himself oti 
one foot ; anon he rests, seated upon his tarsi ; and again, he lies prone 
upon the stomach. Unlike the cranes, he dances not, neither does he 
leap or jump ; but now and again he runs rapidly round his little 
domain, with wings extended, as if to give him an ira])ulse. He uses 
his beak with surprising dexterity, almost as the elephant uses his 
trunk. He picks up the smallest objects, turns them over and over, 
throws them into the air, and catches them, like a juggler performing 
his favourite feat of catching coins ; and with this invaluable imple- 
ment he rids himself gravely of the parasitical insects which adhere to 
his plumage. He has also a habit of clacking it in different ways, so 
as to express his changes of sentiment. This habit, we need hardly 
say, he shares with the stork. 
Bennett's jabiru seemed tolerably indifferent to changes of tem- 
perature ; he exposed himself to the rain with as much readiness as to 
the sun. When warm Avinds blew, he frequently opened his beak as 
if to breathe more easily. If placed in the shade, he returned immedi- 
ately into the sunshine. 
The jabiru is not one of Nature's gluttons; he eats but little in 
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