396 Capt. Beavan on various Indian Birds. 



903. FuLicA ATRA. Bald Coot, 



This species is the " Tildoobee " of my native Hindoostanee 

 servants, whose knowledge of ornithology, however, is very 

 limited. I procured it at Ambekanuggur, in Maunbhoom, in 

 1865. A specimen at Umballah, on November 3, 1866, 

 measured as follows: — Length 16; wings 7'5 ; tail 2*25; tar- 

 sus 2'25; middle toe and claw 3'5 ; irides purple-red, hardly 

 "bloodred^^ as stated by Jerdon. I have seen this species in the 

 tanks at Umballah, in the " Phool bagh " (literally '' garden of 

 flowers ") . 



915. Leptoptilus argala. Gigantic Stork. 



This bird, well known as the "Adjutant," is common 

 throughout Calcutta and Lower Bengal generally ; and I find 

 that I had noted regarding it that it roosts in company on 

 trees, and every evening there is great squabbling and clattering 

 of beaks for the best places, which generally results in the 

 weakest birds being obhged to betake themselves elsewhere. 

 They do not appear to like roosting on buildings, though 

 frequently seen on them during the day. The quick chattering 

 noise caused by clapping both mandibles together is not at all 

 unlike the sound of " water flowing from a narrow-necked 

 bottle," though the idea is so ridiculed by Dr. Jerdon ; and it is 

 the only sound to which they appear capable of giving utterance. 

 The pouch can evidently be dilated or contracted at the pleasure 

 of the bird, and in birds of the preceding year is very small. 

 In May their legs are pure white in colour, and appear to be 

 covered with a loose skin which is partially shredding off". Dated 

 " Fort William, May 1865," when I was an inmate of the Hos- 

 pital there. 



The nest of this species has been observed in India by a near 

 relative of my own, Lieut. -Col. Charles Drury, of the Bengal 

 Stafi" Corps. It contained two young ones, and was found by 

 him at Munsoor Ghaut, (north of the Gorruckpore district, but 

 not in the terai), on the high bank, near a stream, on or about 

 the 15th of December 1861. The old birds were put ofi" the 

 nest, which was in a semul or cotton-tree ; and a shot fired into 

 the tree made the young birds, which were fully fledged, come 

 out and sit on one of the boughs, whence one was bagged by 



