•BIRDS. ARi>EiD.aj. 
414 GRAixaj. 
mandibles take part in this curious formation. The 
White Spoonbill is a native of Asia, Africa, and Europe, 
in many places being tolerably abundant; in northern 
countries, and even in England, it is only an occa- 
sional visitor. Its plumage is entirely white, with the 
exception of a band across the breast which is of a 
buff colour; the naked skin of the throat is yellow; 
the back of the head bears a crest of elongated slender 
feathers; the bill is black, with the extremity yellow; 
and the legs are black. The length of the full-grown 
male is about thirty-two inches; the female is rather 
less, and has a smaller crest. The trachea of the 
Spoonbill is very curiously convoluted in the form of 
the figure 8. 
The Spoonbill resembles the preceding species in 
its general habits, frequenting the margins of rivers 
and lakes, in which it procures the fishes, frogs, aquatic 
insects, and other animals, which constitute its food. 
In capturing minute animals at the water’s erlge or in 
the mud, it makes use of its wide spoonlike bill much 
in the same way as a duck. It is an abundant bird in 
Holland during the summer, but migrates southward 
at the approach of winter, during which season it 
haunts the coasts of the Mediterranean in flocks. The 
nest is generally made amongst the reeds and herbage 
of the marshes, but in some places the Spoonbill is 
said to build, like the heron, in trees. 
THE ROSEATE SPOONBILL [Platalea Ayq/a)— Plate 
25, fig. 96 — a beautiful species of a rose colour with 
the wings rich carmine, enjoys a wide distribution in 
South America. In its habits it resembles the Euro- 
pean species. 
THE WHITE STORK {Ciconia alba) — Plate 25, fig. 
97. In the Storks and their immediate allies the bill 
is very strong, conical, and usually pointed ; the upper 
mandible has no grooves, and the nostrils are pierced in 
its sides near the base of the hill. The White Stork, 
which is a well-known European bird and an occasional 
visitor to Britain, is migratory in its habits, passing 
the summer only in temperate and cold latitudes. It 
is a large and handsome species, measuring about three 
feet and a half in length, and is of a white colour, with 
the extremities of the wings black. 
The Stork frequents marshes and the banks of rivers, 
devouring indiscriminately any aquatic animals that 
come in its way, and not even sparing the young 
of water fowl. It also feeds freely upon any offal or 
carrion ; and for this reason in many places its visits 
are regarded with great favour ; and it may be seen 
stalking about with perfect confidence even in the 
crowded streets of towns. It often takes up its abode 
upon the house-tops and there huilds its nest, return- 
ing eveiy year to take possession of its old dwelling ; 
and in Holland and Germany it is usual for the people 
to place boxes upon the roofs for the accommodation 
of the Storks. The nest consists of a mass of sticks 
and similar rough materials, in the midst of which the 
female lays three or four eggs; the young, when 
hatched, are attended with great care by the parent 
birds, which feed them by introducing their bills into 
the gaping mouths of their offspring and then disgorg- 
ing a portion of their last meal. The affection shown 
by the Stork for its young has indeed become pro- 
verbial ; and the female has been known to prefer 
perishing with her young ones in a conflagration to 
making her escape without them. 
THE BLACK STORK {Ciconia nigra) is another 
European species, of which a few specimens have been 
I taken in this country. It inhabits as wide a range of 
country as the White Stork, and like it is a migratory 
bird ; but instead of approaching the dwellings of man, 
it takes up its abode in the most sequestered spot it 
can find. This bird is nearly as large as the White 
Stork, and is of a deep black colour, with purple, 
coppery, and green tints, except on the lower surface, 
from the breast backwards, the plumage of which is 
white. The bill and feet are orange red. 
THE ADJUTANT {Leptoptilus Argala), also called 
the Gigantic Crane, is a large and curious bird, 
inhabiting India and the Indian islands. It frequently 
attains a height of five feet, and measures fully half as 
much more from the tip of the bill to that of the enor- 
mously elongated feet. This remarkable bird has a 
long, powerful, conical bill with an acute tip, with the 
nostrils in the form of longitudinal slits near the base 
of the ridge of the upper mandible ; its head and neck 
are nearly bare of feathers ; in front of the neck is a 
large pouch; and the base of the neck is surrounded 
by a sort of ruff’ of feathers. The wings are of enor- 
mous size and the legs are very long and stilt-like, the 
naked reticulated skin extending fiir above the articu- 
lation of the tarsus. The Adjutant is of an ashy-gray 
colour above, with the borders of the elongated wing- 
coverts white ; its lower surface is white. This bird 
is exceedingly voracious, devouring anything that comes 
in his way ; with his enormous bill he is able to snap 
up even such large articles of food as fowls, cats, and 
rabbits, and the capacity of his throat is such that he 
swallows these whole. A small leg of mutton will also 
disappear in the same way, and where the Adjutant is 
kept in a tame state, it requires no little care to protect 
provisions of all kinds from his sudden attacks. He is 
nevertheless regarded as a benefactor by the inhabitants 
of the countries in which he occurs, on account of the 
quantities of carrion which he devours, and for this 
reason his presence in the towns is even encouraged. 
In a wild state this bird lives in flocks, generally fre- 
quenting the flat shores of the mouths of rivers. 
THE MARABOU STORK {Leptoptilus Marabou) is 
an African species, a little smaller than the preceding, 
which it resembles in its form and general habits. 
This bird is chiefly remarkable for the great delicacy 
of the feathers growing from beneath the wings, which 
are known as Marabout feathers, and form some of the 
most admired ornaments of ladies’ head dresses. 
THE SENEGAL JABIRU {Mycteria senegalensis ) — 
Plate 25, fig. 98 — is an inhabitant of the same region 
as the last species, to which it is nearly equal in size. 
It is at once distinguishable from all the preceding forms 
of this group by the peculiar form of the bill, which is 
curved upwards at the tip. In its habits this bird 
resembles the Storks. A nearly allied species, the M. 
australis — is an inhabitant of Australia ; and a third, 
distinguished by having the bill black and the head 
and neck nearly naked {M. americana), is met with 
in the tropical regions of South America. 
