[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS a bird of the stork kind, lately brought from Botany Bay. The beak of this creature is an anomaly among the rest; it is composed of two long sticks, apparently, as if of wood, with which they make a loud clattering noise, in order to clean them. The head is bare of feathers, hairs, or down, and also looks as if made of wood; in which the eye seems to be set, as if without lids or any cartilaginous appendages. Under the chin is a kind of bag, or purse, that seems adapted to receive the water they are obliged to swallow with the fish they feed on. The neck is not covered with feathers, but bare like that of the ostrich, and of a flesh colour. The covert of the wings and back are black, with a bluish cast; the under part of the body whitish; the legs are long, without feathers, and of a greyish hue; so are the thighs, which seem to be as slender as the leg. The articulation between the tibia and the femur is perceptible and larger than in any bird of the kind. Two birds of this species were exposed to view in London, at the menagery of Exeter-Change, in 1810.
