Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/793

Rh The first to be noticed is that singular bird known as the hammerhead, a heron-like form about as big as an average-sized bittern, which derives its name from the fancied resemblance of its head to a hammer. This only holds true, however, when its otherwise erectile crest is lowered so as to be in a line with its beak (see Fig. 7). It has been known to science since 1760, when Brisson described it, it being the Scopus umbretta of ornithology, and ranges over the greater part of the African continent. In plumage it is of a dingy brown with purplish reflections, while a series of blackish bars mark its tail across. Inactive by day, it is lively enough as night approaches, at which latter time, it is said, it gives itself up to a behavior of a very remarkable order. According to Sharpe, its nest is "a structure of great bulk, with chambers inside, built of branches and twigs and five or six feet in diameter, capable of bearing the weight of a man." This nest has a roof to it and is carefully lined with clay, the entrance being

{{c|{{fs85|{{sc| Fig. 7.—The Hammerhead}} (Scopus umbretta), {{sc|with a Pair of Shoebills in the Distance}} {B. rex).}}}}

at the side. Scopus is known to lay white eggs, but up to the present writing the nestling has not been described. Recently the bird has been found in the island of Madagascar.

One other remarkable African outlier is the famous Balæniceps rex, known to English travelers as the "shoebill," a stork-like heron, A pair of these birds is shown in the distance in Fig. 7 of the present article, and the whole of this figure,