XENORHY^CHUS. 371 



Manik-jor, Lay-lay, H. ; Bcic/ald, Mar. ; Sanku-budi-konga, Tel. ; 

 Mdna koku, Vanalay koku, Padre koku, Cing. ; Chi-gyin-sut, Burm. 

 Beef-steak Bird of some Anglo-Indians. 



Fig. 87. Head of Dissura episcopus. f . 



Coloration. Crown black glossed with green ; neck, lower 

 abdomen, under tail-coverts, and tail white ; remainder of plumage 

 black, glossed with green on the lower back and rump, lesser 

 and greater coverts and quills, and upper abdomen, purple on the 

 upper back, median coverts, and breast. 



In young birds the white neck-feathers are more fluffy and the 

 dark parts brown. 



Bill black, tinged with red on the culmen, tips and margins of 

 the mandibles ; eyelids and facial skin plumbeous ; irides crimson ; 

 legs and toes red (Oates). 



Length 36 ; tail 8 ; wing 20 ; tarsus 6'5 ; bill from gape 6'5. 



Distribution. Except in the Punjab and Sind (where, however, 

 a solitary specimen was once obtained,) this Stork appears to occur 

 almost throughout the well-watered plains of India, Ceylon, 

 and Burma ; also in the Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, Sumatra, 

 Java, Borneo, and Celebes. 



Habits, <$fc. The White-necked Stork is found singly or in small 

 flocks on open plains and cultivation or on the banks of rivers, 

 marshes, and tanks, especially about ponds that are nearly dry ; 

 it feeds on insects, reptiles, frogs, mollusks, crabs, fish, &c. It 

 flies strongly and well, and may be occasionally seen circling high 

 in the air without moving its wings. It breeds in June, July, and 

 August in Upper India, but in the Deccan about December and 

 January; makes a large nest of sticks, thinly lined with down and 

 feathers, or thickly covered with straw, leaves, and feathers mixed, 

 and lays normally four bluish-white eggs measuring about 2*5 

 by 1-83. 



Genus XENORHYNCHUS, Bonap., 1857. 



Bill very long, ascending slightly towards the tip ; tarsus ver 

 long. Head and neck completely feathered. 



The only species of this genus is a large and handsome bird. 



