Boat Bill

Boat Bill (Cancroma cochlearia), a short-legged bird of the Heron family, deriving its popular name from its bill, which has been compared to two boats laid gunwale to gunwale, the ridge and hooked point of the upper mandible lending force to the comparison. This bird, about the size of a common fowl, is confined to South America: it haunts marshes, swamps, and the banks of rivers, feeding on fish and crustacea, and capturing its prey like the Kingfisher. General plumage grey, washed with misty red, under-surface whitish, belly rusty red. The male has an erectible black crest.