What is a crocodile bird?
The crocodile of the Nile shares his muddy bath water with hosts of other animals. He can cope with the sizable fishes and water birds. In fact, he needs them for food. But some of the water bugs, leeches and other small creatures give him nothing but trouble. In order to cope with than, the crocodile needs the help of his friend, the crocodile bird. The crocodile bird is a distant cousin of our handsome plovers, the killdeer and the spindly legged sandpiper. He is a neat, black and white bird with a crested head, and he struts on the long, thin lags which are so useful for wading along the shore. His native land is Africa, and his shores arc the banks of the muddy me. The terror of these waters is the mighty crocodile. He swims along with never a telltale ripple or lies hidden in the murky water with only his eyes and nose above the surface. He is almost invisible to his victims, and his toothy jaws are always, always ready to snap shut on a fish, a turtle or a water fowl. No bird, yo
