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 balaeniceps 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 balaeniceps 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 Ciconidae.  The claws are powerful and but slightly curved, and that of the median toe is not pectinated as in the herons.