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The Shoe-bill.
(Baloeniceps rex.)
The bird is known as the Whale-Headed Stork, and by the Arabs Father of the Shoe, because of the remarkable form of its beak. The object of this ugly feature is not obvious, for the Shoe-bill, which is related on one hand to the Herons and on the other to the Storks, feeds after the manner of these birds. Fish form its chief diet, but it is also said to eat carrion, and the hook at the tip of its beak may be utilized for this purpose. This species is confined to the neighbourhood of the White Nile, and even there is by no means common.