730 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



915. Leptoptilos argala, LiNNiEus. 



Ardea, apud Linn/EUS — Blyth, Cat. 1632 — Sykes, Cat. 185 — 

 C. nudifrons, Jerdon, Cat. 316 — C. marabou, Temminck — 

 PL Enl. 300— Argala migratoria, Hodgson — Ardea dubia, 

 Gmelin — Hargila or Hargeyla, H. — Diista, H., in the South — 

 Chaniari dhmth, Beng. — Garur in Purneah and N. W. P. — Pini- 

 gala-konga^ Tel. — Adjutant of Europeans. 



The Gigantic Stork. 



Descr. — Adult in breeding plumage ; whole head^ neck, and gular 

 pouch bare, with a very few scattered short hairs, yellowish red 

 mixed with fleshy, and varying much in tint in different indivi- 

 duals ; a ruff of white feathers bordering the upper part of the 

 back, lengthened, and somewhat loose in texture on the shoulders ; 

 upper plumage, including the lesser and median wing-coverts, slaty 

 black, ashy or slaty in fresh moulted birds, with a slight green 

 gloss ; the greater-coverts silvery grey ; primaries and secondaries 

 black, slightly glossed externally ; tertiaries silvery grey, gradu- 

 ally passing into the greater coverts, and with them forming- 

 one long conspicuous wing-band ; two or three of the innermost 

 feathers slightly decomposed in structure ; scapulars with a tinge 

 of grey ; lower plumage v/hite. 



In non-breeding plumage the silvery grey wing-band is want- 

 ing, the whole plumage is more dull, and the nude skin of the 

 head and neck less mixed with red. 



Bill pale dirty greenish ; irides very small, greyish white ; legs 

 greyish white. Length 5 feet; wing 30 inches; tail 11; bill 

 at front 12 ; tarsus 10^ ; mid-toe 5. The males exceed the females 

 in size. 



The pouch is sometimes 16 inches and more in length. It 

 has no connection with the gullet, but is probably connected 

 with the respiratory system of the bird ; and, as Mr. Blyth sug- 

 gests, is probably analogous to the air-cell attached to one lung 

 only of the Pytlion or Boa, and, as in that case, no doubt, 

 supplies oxygen to the lungs during protracted acts of deglutition. 

 It appears to increase in size with the age of the bird. 



