Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE STORK-LIKE BIRDS

THE HAMMER-HEAD, OR UMBRETTE (Family Scopida)

Although a much smaller bird than the one last considered, — the Hammerhead is only about twenty inches in total length, — it is in many ways even more peculiar and interesting, since it combines, in quite a remarkable degree, characters that ally it to both Herons and Storks, — a Stork-like Heron, as it has been called. It differs from the true Herons in the absence of powder-down patches, the pectination of the middle claw, and in having ten instead of eleven primaries.

It differs, on the other hand, from the Storks in having the Heron-like vocal apparatus, while the skull, Mr. Beddard says,”is on the whole more Stork-like than Heron-like, but it does not show any of the extreme modifications of the Stork type.”

There are numerous other structural features suggesting one or the other of these types, and it seems safe to assume that it is closely allied to the ancestral form whence the two groups have originated. Its nearest living relative is probably the Shoe-bill.

It is a bird not larger than a Night Heron, with a somewhat cylindrical body, a large head set on a short, thick neck, and a rather large, compressed bill which has a downward curve at the tip. In color the plumage is an almost uniform earthy brown (umber), whence of course the French name Umbrette. There is a slight gloss of bronzy purple above, especially on the wings and tail, while below it is more ashy brown.

The head is very strongly crested, the long crest-feathers being usually borne horizontally, thus somewhat resembling a hammer and giving rise to its common name. The toes are rather long and slightly webbed at the base; the tail of twelve feathers is also moderately long.

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