110 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
but deformed by small spongy excrescences like warts, 
and thin patches of strong curly hair. A long pouch 
hangs from the bottom of the neck over the breast, 
thinly covered with a short feathery growth, and 
terminated by a tuft of long hair resembling a stunt- 
ed tail. The shoulders, when the wings are closed, 
appear to project considerably from the inosculation 
of the neck with the trunk, and are edged with 
soft white feathers ; the wings and back are blue. 
At a distance, these birds look like human beings 
pacing to and fro on the margin of the sea, where they 
are continually seen looking for whatever the tide 
may cast upon the beach, calculated to appease the 
voracity of their appetite. So ravenous are they, that 
they will swallow large bones, and even tortoises have 
been found entire in their stomachs. They will de- 
vour hares, rats, some of which are as large as a 
small cat, snakes, lizards, frogs, and all kinds of ver- 
min, which pass into their stomach so readily, that, 
when shot, snakes have been taken alive from them 
several hours after they had been swallowed. I once 
knew an instance of a tame bird of this species hav- 
ing devoured a hind quarter of kid which the cook of 
the party, to whom it belonged, had inadvertently 
placed within its reach. The adjutant is naturally 
timid, but when excited will open its huge bill with an 
aspect of formidable menace, and emit a hoarse dis- 
sonant roar as loud as that of a bear or buffalo. It 
would seem to have derived the name of adjutant from 
the singular circumstance of its appearing at a distance 
like a person in military undress, which in India con- 
sists of a white jacket and trousers. Its stately march 
