AN INTERESTING BIRD.

Manawatu Herald, 4 June 1896, Page 4

AN INTERESTING BIRD.

OF Riapilnr Ar.psct, Extraordinary A ppe-, tito am! Ainuxinj; Digestion. This pcri.r. :-..able bird is a unlive of India <.•:< 1 U notuble for hißenortnous beak. With tii bt i;l: lie can »cize and swallow objects a i big us a Jcg of mutton, a fowl or even a full grown cat. In India he is protected with great cure and nerforms most useful {service*. He thoroughly cleans the streets and public places of the refuse and offal.

which otherwise would putrify nnd become a danger and a nuisance. He is also very expert in dealing with snakes and other unpleasant reptiles, giving them no quarter. He knocks them over before they can Btrike, and after battering them well with his bill he swallows them whole. The services of the- adjutant are also invaluable during the inundations, numbers of theirt following the course of the rising waters and making prey of the reptiles which are driven from their holes by the floods. The appetite and digestion of this bird are truly wonderful, his stomach being endowed with extraordinary powers. Having SNvuUowed nnuWtaYnto sized tortoise, for instance, all the soft and digestible parts are quickly dissolved, find the other parts, such as tliu shell and bouts, are ejected. In some respects the adjutant resembles tho vulture tribe in. thr.t ii has the naked head and neck. Tl:<s attiiurlus of tin's bird are varied, somatlmes amusing and nearly always grotesque. Its vray of cooling itself when the day i 3 hot is carious. It will r-tand with its enormous b-ak nearly touching the ground, the wings stuck out straight from the body. It will remain iv this odd attitude for a long time perfectly immovable, «s if carved in fctono. The bird has then the appearance as if thinking out some deep and important question. Sometimes it squats on the g.-.iiir.d with its legs tucked under the body. At other timesit stalks along in a menacing manner, bead and neck thrust forward and its huge bill open, looking very formidable ial'jed, but uudevueuti) all this assumption pf bravery it la but t; poltroon and will run a .v.y from a child if boldly faced. The adjutant is easily tamed,