Dr Adam on the Ciconia Argala, or Adjutant Bird. 331 



waders, compared with many other individuals of the same 

 tribe. To overcome these difficulties, then, may not the bird 

 have the power of distending the bag with air, so as to counter- 

 act the weight of its enormous bill, and thus be enabled to pro- 

 cure food, in situations where it would otherwise be unattain- 

 able ? In a communication lately received from a friend, this 

 view of the subject appears to be confirmed by what he himself 

 was an eye-witness of. An Adjutant bird was observed seek- 

 ing its prey in a large piece of water, and wading till it reached 

 to so great a distance from the shore, that it attracted his atten- 

 tion, as he conceived the depth at that spot to exceed the per- 

 pendicular dimensions of the limbs and body united. He had 

 the curiosity to inquire into the fact, and ascertained that the 

 bird had actually advanced into the water beyond its depth. 

 The conclusion which he drew from the circumstance was simi- 

 lar to what I have now proposed, namely, that the bag had 

 acted as an air-vessel, and supported the bird where, without 

 such assistance, it must have unavoidably been submerged and 

 perished. 



The other idea, that this appendage may perform a similar 

 office in the ethereal element, naturally suggests itself, when we 

 consider the anatomical structure of the parts, and compare it 

 with the extraordinary elevation to which these birds are known 

 to soar, and the great length of time they frequently remain on 

 wing in the higher regions of the atmosphere. When the dense 

 vapours of the rainy months are dispersed, and the sun has again 

 burst forth with undiminished fervor on our Indian plains, then 

 the Adjutant bird is observed to avoid the meridian heat by taking 

 his elevated flight, and rising gradually in the atmosphere, till 

 he appears a mere speck in the distance, or attains a height that 

 conceals him entirely from the view. In the month of Oc- 

 tober, when not a cloud obscures the vault of the heavens, it is 

 a beautiful spectacle to observe hundreds of these gigantic birds 

 (now diminished to the size of swallows) performing their grace- 

 ful evolutions, and wheeling majestically at a vast elevation 

 from the earth. The painter, looking at the face of nature, 

 would behold the scene as merely characteristic of a tropical cli- 

 mate ; while the philosopher, who views every object with refe- 

 rence to an ultimate purpose, cannot but admire its adaptation 



