On the osteology of Balaeniceps rex (Gould) / by W. Kitchen Parker.

  • William Kitchen Parker
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the osteology of Balaeniceps rex (Gould) / by W. Kitchen Parker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/96 (page 269)
    XXII. On the Osteology o/Bal^niceps rex (Gould). By W. Kitchen Parker, Mem. Micr. Soc. Read June 26, 1860. [Plates LXIV., LXV., LXVL, & LXVIL] Introduction. No lover of nature can read Mr. Petherick’s vivid and delightful description' of the native home and playground of those royal children of the Tropics, the Hippopotamus, the Crocodile, and the Balaeniceps, without longing to see with his own eyes all this overflowing life. ‘The miry places and the marishes’ of these wild regions are appropriately tenanted by these portentous-looking representatives of the three great air-breathing Classes, the Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles. Nor do such creatures harmonize less with each other than with their savage home; for one cannot even think of the great River-horse without the idea of his scaly neigh- bour at once suggesting itself; and the Balaeniceps has certainly in its strange counte- nance an artistic, if not a family likeness to the Crocodile. Like many of its large congeners, the Balseniceps is not merely a fish-eating bird,— carrion, especially intestines, being equally acceptable with fish. This is also the case with certain piscivorous birds belonging to other natural groups, e. g. the Sea-Eagles and Gulls ; whilst the Pelicans, Cormorants, and Gannets feed more cleanlily, and abide by a purely fish-diet. It is to the stilted, wading group of scavengers that the Balaeniceps belongs, being one of the Ardece affines, and therefore intimately related to the White Stork, the Marabout, and the Adjutant. Its nearest relations, however, are the South American Boat-bill (Cancroma cochlearia) and the Little South African Umbre (Scopus umhretta). The latter bird, before the discovery of its gigantic relation, seemed to be unique amongst the near relations of the Common Heron (Ardea cinerea), in having a strong hook to the upper beak ; the Baloeniceps, however, has this character in the highest degree, and it is not absent from the flat upper jaw of the Boat-bill. It is difficult for the systematist to choose his type-form amongst the Ardeine genera, including Ciconia, Leptoptilus, Mycteria, Anastomus, Aramus, Ardea, Botaurus, Herodias, Nycticorax, Scopus, Cancroma, and Balceniceps ; but as the Heron is best known, and has the cha- racters of the family moderately, but markedly developed, it is the most available. Ardea is, moreover, one of the original genera of Linneeus ; and the names and terms 2 Q ' Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860, p. 195.