THE AUSTRALIAN JABIRU. 
555 
cock as a tiger. Some enemies, however, from which man would flee, are attacked and killed 
by the Adjutant, which thus redeems himself from a wholly pusillanimous character. Serpents 
fall an easy prey to this bird, which has a fashion of knocking them over before they can 
strike, and after battering them to death swallows them whole. During the inundations th« 
Adjutants are invaluable, as they follow the course of the rising waters, and make prey of the 
reptiles that are driven from their holes by the floods. 
The capacity of the Adjutant’s stomach seems to be almost unlimited, and its digestion is 
so rapid that it can consume a very large amount of food daily. It will swallow a whole joint 
of meat, or even so impracticable a subject as a tortoise, its stomach being endowed with the 
power of dissolving all the soft and digestible parts, and ejecting the indigestible, such as the 
shell and bones. 
It is easily tamed, and soon attaches itself to a kind owner ; sometimes, indeed, becoming 
absolutely troublesome in its familiarity. Mr. Smeathman mentions an instance where one of 
these birds was domesticated, and was accustomed to stand behind its master’s chair at dinner- 
time, and take its share of the meal. It was, however, an incorrigible thief, and was always 
looking for some opportunity of stealing the provisions, so that the servants were forced to 
keep watch with sticks over the table. In spite of their vigilance it was often too quick for 
them ; and once it snatched a boiled fowl off the dish and swallowed it on the spot. 
The exquisitely fine and flowing plumes, termed “Marabou feathers,” are obtained from 
the Adjutant and a kindred species, the Marabou of Africa {Leptopiilos marabou ). 
The general color of the Adjutant is delicate ashen-gray above and white beneath. The 
great head and proportionately large neck are almost bare of covering, having only a scanty 
supply of down instead of feathers. From the lower part of the neck hangs a kind of dewlap, 
which can be inflated at the will of the bird, but generally hangs loose and flabby. 
The Jabiru s rank among the giants of the feathered race. They are very similar in gen- 
eral form to the marabous, but may be distinguished from them by the form of bill, which 
slightly turns up towards the extremity. The head and part of the neck are also nearly desti- 
tute of feathers. There are very few species known, and they all seem to have similar habits ; 
haunting the borders of lakes, marshy grounds, and the banks of rivers, where they find 
abundance of the fish and aquatic reptiles on which they feed. Of one species, the Austra- 
lian Jabiru, Dr. Bennett has treated so fully and with such graphic powers of narration, that 
a condensation of his interesting account must be transferred to these pages. The whole nar- 
rative may be found in his “ G-atherings of a Naturalist in Australia.” One of these birds was 
taken at Port Macquarie and brought safely to Dr. Bennett’s home: — 
“The first evening it was at my house, it walked into the hall, gazed at the gas-lamps 
which had just been lighted, and then proceeded to walk upstairs seeking for a roosting-place ; 
but not liking the ascent came quickly down again, returned into the yard, and afterwards 
went to roost in the coach-house between the carriages, to which place it now retires regularly 
every evening soon after dark. It may always be found in that part of the yard where the 
sun is shining, and with its face invariably directed towards it. When hungry it seeks for 
the cook, who usually feeds it ; and if she has neglected its food, looks into the kitchen as if 
to remind her of her neglect, and waits quietly, but with a searching eye, during the time the 
meat is cutting up, until it is fed. 
“ It is amusing to observe this bird catch flies ; it remains very quiet as if asleep, and on a 
fly passing, it is snapped up in an instant. The only time I observed any manifestation of 
anger in it, was when the mooruks were introduced into the yard where it was parading about. 
These rapid, fussy, noisy birds, running about its range, excited its indignation ; for on their 
coming near, it slightly elevated the brilliant feathers of the head, its eyes became very bright, 
it ruffled its feathers, and chattered its mandibles, as if about to try their sword-like edge upon 
the intruding mooruks, but the anger subsided without further demonstration than an occa- 
sional flapping of its powerful wings. One day, however, on one of the mooruks approaching 
too near him, he seized it by the neck with his mandibles, on which the mooruk ran away and 
did not appear in any way injured. ' ' : 
