[Illustration: THE WHALE-HEADED STORK--BALÆNICEPS REX.]
Of all the wonders that inhabit the vast continent of Africa, the most
singular one is undoubtedly the _Balæniceps_, or whale-headed stork.
It is of relatively recent discovery, and the first description of it
was given by Gould in the early part of 1851. It is at present still
extremely rare. The Paris Museum possesses three specimens of it, and
the Boulogne Museum possesses one. These birds always excite the
curiosity of the public by their strange aspect. At first sight, says
W.P. Parker, in his notes upon the osteology of the balæniceps, this
bird recalls the boatbill, the heron, and the adjutant. Other birds,
too, suggest themselves to the mind, such as the pelican, the toucan,
the hornbills, and the podarges. The curious form of the bill, in
fact, explains this comparison with birds belonging to so different
groups, and the balæniceps would merit the name of boatbill equally
well with the bird so called, since its bill recalls the small fishing
boats that we observe keel upward high and dry on our seashores. This
bill is ten inches in length, and four inches in breadth at the base.
The upper mandible, which is strongly convex, exhibits upon its median
line a slight ridge, which is quite wide at its origin, and then
continues to decrease and becomes sensibly depressed as far as to the
center of its length, and afterward rises on approaching the anterior
extremity, where it terminates in a powerful hook, which seems to form
a separate part, as in the albatrosses. Throughout its whole extent,
up to the beginning of the hook, this mandible presents a strong
convexity over its edge, which is turned slightly inward. The lower
mandible, which is powerful, and is indented at its point to receive
the hook, has a very sharp edge, which, with that of the upper
mandible, constitutes a pair of formidable shears. The color of the
bill is pale yellow, passing to horn color toward the median ridge,
and the whole surface is sprinkled with dark brown blotches. The
nostrils are scarcely visible, and are situated in a narrow cleft at
the base of the bill, and against the median ridge. The tongue is very
small and entirely out of proportion to the vast buccal capacity. This
is a character that might assimilate the balæniceps to the pelican.
The robust head, the neck, and the throat, are covered with
slate-colored feathers verging on green, and not presenting the
repulsive aspect of the naked skin of the adjutant. As in the latter,
the skin of the throat is capable of being dilated so as to form a
voluminous pouch. Upon the occiput the feathers are elongated and
form a small crest. The body is robust and covered upon the back with
slate-colored feathers bordered with ashen gray. Upon the breast the
feathers are lanceolate, and marked with a dark median stripe.
Finally, the lower parts, abdomen, sides, and thighs, are pale gray,
and the remiges and retrices are black. According to Verreaux, the
feathers of the under side of the tail are soft and decompounded, but
at a distance they only recall the beautiful plumes of the adjutant.
The well-developed wings indicate a bird of lofty flight, yet of all
the bones of the limbs, anterior as well as posterior, the humerus
alone is pneumatized. The strong feet terminate in four very long toes
deprived at the interdigital membrane observed in most of the
Ciconidæ. The claws are powerful and but slightly curved, and that of
the median toe is not pectinated as in the herons.
The balæniceps is met with only in or near water, but it prefers
marshes to rivers. It is abundant upon the banks of the Nile only
during the hot season which precedes the rains and when the entire
interior is dried up. During the rest of the year it inhabits natural
ponds and swamps, where the shallow water covers vast areas and
presents numerous small islands, of easier access than the banks of
the Nile, which always slope more or less abruptly into deep water. In
such localities it is met with in pairs or in flocks of a hundred or
more, seeking its food with tireless energy, or else standing
immovable upon one leg, the neck curved and the head resting upon the
shoulder. When disturbed, the birds fly just above the surface of the
water and stop at a short distance. But when they are startled by the
firing of a gun, they ascend to a great height, fly around in a circle
and hover for a short time, and then descend upon the loftiest trees,
where they remain until the enemy has gone.
Water turtles, fish, frogs and lizards form the basis of their food.
According to Petherick, they do not disdain dead animals, whose
carcasses they disembowel with their powerful hooked beak. They pass
the night upon the ground, upon trees and upon high rocks. As regards
nest-making and egg-laying, opinions are most contradictory. According
to Verreaux, the balæniceps builds its nest of earth, vegetable
debris, reeds, grass, etc., upon large trees. The female lays two eggs
similar to those of the adjutant. It is quite difficult to reconcile
this opinion with that of Petherick, who expresses himself as follows:
"The balæniceps lays in July and August, and chooses for that purpose
the tall reeds or grasses that border the water or some small and
slightly elevated island. They dig a hole in the ground, and the
female deposits her eggs therein. I have found as many as twelve eggs
in the same nest."
The whale-headed stork is still so little known that there is nothing
in these contradictions that ought to surprise us. Authors are no more
in accord on the subject of the affinities of this strange bird. Gould
claims that it presents the closest affinities with the pelican and is
the wading type of the Pelicanidæ. Verreaux believes that its nearest
relative is the adjutant, whose ways it has, and that it represents in
this group what the boatbill represents in the heron genus. Bonaparte
regards it as intermediate between the pelican and the boatbill. If we
listen to Reinhurdt, we must place it, not alongside of the boatbill,
but alongside of the African genus Scopus. The boatbill, says he, is
merely a heron provided with a singular bill, which has but little
analogy with that of the balæniceps, and not a true resemblance. The
nostrils differ in form and position in those two birds, and in the
boatbill there exists beneath the lower mandible a dilatable pouch
that we do not find in the balæniceps. An osteological examination
leads Parker to place the balæniceps near the boatbill, and the
present classification is based upon that opinion. The family of
Ardeidæ is, therefore, divided into five sub-families, the three last
of which each comprises a single genus.
Ardeidæ.--Ardeineæ (herons).
Botaurineæ (bitterns).
Scopineæ (ombrette).
Cancomineæ (boatbill).
Balænicepineæ (whale-headed stork).
All the whale-headed storks that have been received up to the present
have come from the region of the White Nile; but Mr. H. Johnston, who
traveled in Congo in 1882, asserts that he met with the bird on the
River Cunene between Benguela and Angola, where it was even very
common. Mr. Johnston's assertion has been confirmed by other travelers
worthy of credence, but, unfortunately, the best of all confirmations
is wanting, and that is a skin of this magnificent wader. We can,
therefore, only make a note of Mr. Johnston's statement, and hope that
some traveler may one day enrich our museums with some balæniceps from
these regions. The presence of this bird in the southwest of Africa
is, after all, not impossible; yet there is one question that arises:
Was the balæniceps observed by Mr. Johnston of the same species as
that of the White Nile, or was it a new type that will increase this
family, which as yet comprises but one genus and one species--the
_Balæniceps rex_?--_Le Naturaliste_.
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