46 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



This large stork has the lower breast, abdomen, and under tail 

 coverts white; the rest of the plumage black (glossed with purple 

 and green) ; the bill and feet bright red. 



XENORHYNCHUS ASIATICUS ASIATICUS (Latham) 



Indian Black-necked Stork 



[Mycteria] asiatica Latham, Index ornithologicus, vol. 2, 1790, p. 670 (India). 

 Xenorhynchus asiaticus, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, 

 p. 140 (Chiang Saen) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 766 ("On the swamps of northern Siam"). 



This strikingly marked stork, like Dissoura, occurs only in Chiang 

 Rai Province, where, while not numerous, it seems to be widely dis- 

 tributed. Gyldenstolpe found a few near Chiang Saen in August 1914. 

 In May 1936 I saw it at Mae Chai and on the plains between Muang 

 Thoeng and Chiang Rai, near the Nam Ing. Delacour and Greenway 

 reported it on the Mae Khong about 20 km. below Ban Huai Sai, Jan- 

 uary 20, 1939. No specimen has yet been taken anywhere in our area. 



The black-necked stork can be identified as far as it can be seen. It 

 has the head and neck black, glossed with greenish blue ; the scapulars, 

 inner secondaries, greater and median wing coverts black, glossed with 

 bronze-green ; the rest of the plumage white. A bird seen flying over- 

 head will show a broad black band diagonally across the wing. The 

 long bill is black, with the lower edge of the mandible curved upward, 

 and the feet are bright red. 



LEPTOPTILOS DUBIUS (Gmelin) 



Larger Adjutant 



[Ardea] duMa Gmelin, Systema naturae, vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 624 (India). 

 Leptoptiius dubius, Gyldenstople, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 140 

 (Chiang Saen) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 766 (''Throughout the whole country"). 



The only specimen from our area was taken by Gyldenstolpe at 

 Chiang Saen, August 10, 1914. I saw a pair at the Mae Chai marsh in 

 May 1936. It is a form that occurs only in Chiang Rai Province, 

 where Gyldenstolpe considered it rather common, but it is so extremely 

 wary that it is rarely possible to get within gunshot of it. 



This is a gigantic stork with large, massive bill and a gular pouch, 

 which can be inflated like a child's balloon. The head and neck are 

 naked except for a few scattered black feathers on the nape and nu- 

 merous thin, curly, hairlike feathers ; the skin of the head is pinkish 

 brown, that of the neck and pouch yellow or pinkish yellow. The 

 bird has a ruff of white feathers around the base of the neck; the 

 underparts white ; the upperparts wholly black ; the inner secondaries 

 and greater wing coverts gray during the nuptial season (then form- 

 ing a broad and conspicuous wing band). 



