THE ADJUTANT. 
This bird is of the Heron tribe, and, accord- 
ing to the Linnsean system, belongs to the order 
of Waders. In its appearance there is some- 
thing singular. Under the chin is a kind of 
purse or bag, which seems adapted to receive 
the water that they swallow with their food. 
This connects it, in some degree, with the peli- 
can. There is neither hair, feather, nor down, 
on the head, which looks as if it were made of 
wood, — and this oddity is heightened by the 
eye seeming to be set in it, as if without lids 
or any cartilaginous appendages. The beak is 
equally anomalous ; it is composed of two long 
sticks, having the appearance of wood, with 
which the bird makes a loud chattering noise, 
when cleaning them. The covert of the wings 
and back is black, with a bluish tint ; the under 
part of the body is whitish ; the legs and thighs 
are long, unfeathered, and of a greyish huej 
the neck also is devoid of feathers. 
( 137 ) 
