270 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Naked skin of the head and neck blackish brown ; a pure white band 

 encircles the neck at its junction with the head, tinged with blue on the 

 nape; bill bluish ; iris orange-red; legs pale coral -red ; claws brown. 



Length 30 inches, tail 7*7, wing 15% tarsus 3'2, bill from gape 6'2. 

 The female is rather smaller. 



This species is very closely allied to the Indian Inocotis papillosus, and 

 differs chiefly in being larger and in having a white collar round the upper 

 neck. The Indian bird, in addition, has warts on the back of the head, 

 which G. davisoni never has. 



Davison's Black Ibis is not uncommon in the plains of Southern Pegu 

 between the Pegu and the Sittang rivers, and it appears to be a constant 

 resident. Mr. Davison observed it in the southernmost portions of 

 Tenasserim. 



In occurs in Siam and Cochin China, and Mr. Hume records it from 

 Tonka in the Malay peninsula. /. papiUosus is said to occur in Borneo ; 

 but as the differences between this bird and G. davisoni have only recently 

 been recognized, it is not improbable that the Bornean bird may on re- 

 examination prove to be the present species. After death the conspicuous 

 white neck-collar turns blackish, and all traces of it eventually disappear in 

 rather old skins, so that this feature is not of much service in discrimina- 

 ting the two species. Mr. Blyth records /. papiUosus from Arrakan; but 

 until Arrakanese birds have been carefully examined again and been 

 ascertained to belong to that species, I do not think it advisable to include 

 it in this work. I may note that a black Ibis is not uncommon in the 

 plains near Henzadah, west of the Irrawaddy river ; but I have not been 

 able to examine a specimen from that locality. 



Davison's Black Ibis usually occurs singly or in pairs, and I do not 

 remember ever to have seen a flock of them. It feeds on the banks of 

 muddy streams and in marshes, and is of a very shy nature. In the hot 

 weather I have seen it on recently burnt-up plains, where, no doubt, insects 

 and small reptiles, deprived of cover, readily fall a prey to this bird, as they 

 do to Kites and many others. I found the nest of this Ibis at Wau, on 

 the banks of the canal, in February ; it was a structure of sticks placed 

 low down in a large tree growing in a wilderness of reeds, and contained 

 two pale blue eggs. The cry of this bird at the breeding-season is very 

 loud and peculiar, and may be heard fully two miles off. 



Ibis gigantea, a very large species of Ibis from Cochin China, is not 

 unlikely to be found in Burmah. It is blackish brown with green re- 

 flections, and it has the bill yellow and the legs red. 



