262 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Family CICONIID^. 



Genus LEPTOPTILUS, Less. 



626. LEPTOPTILUS ARGALA. 



THE ADJUTANT. 



Ardea dubia, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 624 (part.). Ardea argala, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. 

 p. 676. Leptoptilos argala, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 730 ; Bl fy Wold. B. Burm. 

 p. 158 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 470 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 468 j 

 Bingham, 8. F. vii. p. 25 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 114 ; Bingham, 8. F. ix. p. 197 ; 

 Gates, S. F. x. p. 242. Leptoptilus dubius, Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 357 ; Hume, 

 Nests and Eggs, p. 605 ; Oates, 8. F. iii. p. 346. Leptoptilus giganteus 

 (Forst.}, Oates, 8. F. vii. p. 50. 



Description. Male and female in breeding -plumage. Head, neck and pouch 

 nearly naked, there being only a few scattered hairs or soft feathers here 

 and there ; breast, abdomen, sides of the body, vent and the under wing- 

 coverts immediately next the body white ; remainder of the under wing- 

 coverts dark grey ; under tail-coverts soft, long and decomposed, white 

 tipped with black ; the whole upper plumage, wings and tail black ; the 

 greater wing-coverts and the tertiaries greyish white, the basal portions 

 white and the outer webs narrowly edged with the same. 



In nonbreeding -plumage the tertiaries and greater wing-coverts become 

 dark, like the other portions of the wing. 



Bill pinkish flesh-colour ; skin of the head and chin pale reddish brown ; 

 skin of the forehead and at the base of the bill rough and blackish, pre- 

 senting the appearance of having been scorched; neck saffron-yellow, 

 turning to pink at the end of the pouch, the whole of which is spotted with 

 black; loose skin at the base of the back o the neck brick-red; iris 

 yellowish white ; eyelids plumbeous, the edges pink ; legs and toes brown, 

 the edges of the reticulations white ; claws black. 



Male : length 60*5 inches, tail 12' 5, wing 32, tarsus 13, bill from 

 gape 14. Female : length 52, tail 11, wing 28'5, tarsus 11, bill from 

 gape 11. The pouch, when lowered, is frequently a foot or more in 

 length. 



The Adjutant or Gigantic Stork is more or less distributed over the 

 whole Province ; but it is most abundant in the large plains of Southern 

 Pegu, where they arrive in immense numbers in October and leave again in 

 February or March. 



It is met with over the greater part of India and the Indo-Burmese 



