XXVIII 
BEAKS 
339 
which has a beak like a nut-cracker, for the mandibles 
cannot be closed in the middle, lives on frogs and 
fishes, but its favourite food consists of fresh-wvater 
molluscs, especially Ampullaria, the shells of which it 
can crush with this powerful beak. On account of its 
cleverness in this direction it has been called the 
“ shell-ibis.” 
The shafts of the feathers on the fore-neck and 
lower parts of the Open-bill expand in the adult bird 
into flat, shining, horn-like plates at the tip. This 
terminal expanded portion is 
also partly twisted on its axis. 
These birds breed in society 
at certain localities among the 
reeds. The places are known 
to the chiefs, who, at particular 
times of the year, gather most 
of the young. The chicks are 
very fat, and when roasted are 
esteemed one of the dainties of 
the Barotse Valley (Living¬ 
stone). 
All educated men and women 
who vdsit the Nile Valley take 
keen interest in the Sacred Ibis. 
This bird was regarded with great veneration by the 
ancient Egyptians. Ornithologists are satisfied that 
Ibis cethiopicus is identical with the sacred ibis of the 
Egyptians : in the form of Toth they deified this bird, 
and its body was often mummified (Ibis mummies). 
The adult bird has a bare black head which earned 
for it the name of Chimney Sweeper from the Dutch 
in South Africa. Young birds have the head covered 
with short feathers, and the head becomes bald about 
the second or third year. The bill is long, strong, and 
curved downwards like that of the curlew ; its chief 
peculiarity is a longitudinal groove on each side, leading 
from the nostrils at the base to near its tip. 
The shell of Ampullaria, the 
favourite food of the Open-bill. 
