Lieut. Burgess on the Habits of some Indian Birds. 433 



as the Tantalus or Ibis, I quite agree with Dr. Jerdon that the 

 Spoonhill shows more affinity to the Ibis than to the Herons, from 

 the size and colouring of its eggs ; and I beheve that the more the 

 study of oology is taken up, the more clearly will it be shown that birds 

 may be nearly as well classed by the number and colour of their 

 eggs and their mode of nidification, as by their external form and 

 internal organization. The egg is white, with a belt of light red 

 spots at the larger end. 



Genus Ciconia (Briss.). 



CiCONIA LEUCOCEPHALA (Jcrdou). WhITE-NECKED StORK. 



I have but seldom met with this handsomely-marked bird, but I 

 was fortunate enough to find it in its breeding haunts, and to secure 

 its eggs. On the 7th March 1 850, I found a pair of these Storks 

 breeding in rather a low peepul tree ; the nest was composed of 

 sticks, and contained four white eggs, nearly 2^^ in. in length, 

 by nearly 1-j^ in. in breadth. On the same tree a Black Vulture 

 (Fultur pontic erianus) had also built its nest, containing one egg. 

 In February I found young birds ; when hatched, the beak and bare 

 skin of the face are of a dull greenish-black, irides brown ; the body 

 is covered with light brownish fawn-coloured down, legs and feet 

 dull brownish-orange. On one tree were two nests, each containing 

 two young. The nests were composed of sticks, and built near the 

 top of the tree, a tall Indian fig, the stem of which was partly within 

 the walls of a village. These birds, I was informed, breed in the 

 same tree every year. 



Genus Tantalus (L.). 



Tantalus leucocephalus. Pelican Ibis. 



The Pelican Ibis, as it is called by Dr. Jerdon, is a common bird 

 in the Deccan, frequenting rivers and tanks, and feeding, I believe, 

 chiefly on fish. Its large size renders it remarkable, particularly 

 during the breeding season, when the back and scapulars attain 

 their particularly rich rosy tint. These birds are social, feeding in 

 flocks. I was told by the natives of a village close to a tank fre- 

 quented by them, and close to one of their breeding places, that 

 when they fish in the tank they walk in the shallow water in line, 

 driving the fish before them. In another village, about ten miles 

 from the Godavery River, where there are a great number of large 

 banian trees both outside and inside the walls, I found a commu- 

 nity of these birds, which had built their nests on them, probably 

 to the number of fifty. The trees inside the walls were as thickly 

 covered with nests as those outside, and the birds, which appeared 

 docile and tame, did not mind the noise of the people passing beneath 

 them. At the time that I visited the village, the young birds were 

 all well fledged, and most of them able to fly. The village people 

 informed me that the old birds move ofl^ to the river in the very 

 early dawn, and having caught a sufficient supply for their young, 



Ann, &; Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xvii. 28 



