There Are, Besides The More Common, Some Strange Varieties.
The Pretty White `Ardetta' Is Seen In Flocks, Settling On
The
Backs of large herds of buffaloes, and following them on the wing
when they run; while the kala (`Textor erythrorhynchus')
Is a better horseman,
for it sits on the withers when the animal is at full speed.
Then those strange birds, the scissor-bills, with snow-white breast,
jet-black coat, and red beak, sitting by day on the sand-banks,
the very picture of comfort and repose. Their nests are only little hollows
made on these same sand-banks, without any attempt of concealment;
they watch them closely, and frighten away the marabou and crows
from their eggs by feigned attacks at their heads. When man approaches
their nests, they change their tactics, and, like the lapwing and ostrich,
let one wing drop and make one leg limp, as if lame. The upper mandible
being so much shorter than the lower, the young are more helpless
than the stork in the fable with the flat dishes, and must have every thing
conveyed into the mouth by the parents till they are able to provide
for themselves. The lower mandible, as thin as a paper-knife,
is put into the water while the bird skims along the surface,
and scoops up any little insects it meets. It has great length of wing,
and can continue its flight with perfect ease, the wings acting,
though kept above the level of the body.
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