374 CICONID.E. 



GENUS, Leptoptilus, Lesson. 



Bill enormous, much thickened ; head more or less nude ; wing- 

 coverts long, broad ; under tail-coverts long, soft, and somewhat 

 decomposed, of very large size. 



Leptoptilus argalus, Lin. 



915. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 730; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 21 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, 

 Vol. IX, p. 432 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 266 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 135. 



THE ADJUTANT. 



Length, 60 ; wing, 30 ; tail, 11 ; tarsus, 10'5 ; bill at front, 12 



Bill pale dirty-greenish ; irides greyish-white ; legs greyish- 

 white. 



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 shoulder ; 

 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, gradually 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 white. 



In non-breeding plumage the silvery-grey wing-band is wanting, 

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

 and neck less mixed with red. 



The Adjutant is not uncommon during the rainy season in 

 Central India and Guzerat ; it is much more rare in the Deccan, 

 and in Sind it is seldom met with- 



Leptoptilus javanicus, Horsf. 



916. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 732 ; Butler, Deccan ; 

 Stray Fealhers, Vol. IX, p. 432 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central 

 India; Ibis, 1885, p. 135. 



THE HAIR-CRESTED STORK. 



Length, 54 ; wing, 26 ; tail, 1 1 ; tarsus, 10 ; bill, 10. 



Bill dirty-yellowish ; bare top of head dirty-green ; nude face 

 and neck much tinged with yellow, and at seasons with red ; 

 irides whitish; legs dusky-black. 



Top of the head entirely bald, horny ; the rest of the head, 

 face and neck bare, with a few longish hair-like feathers on the 

 occiput ; the face and the rest of the neck more or less thickly 

 covered with hairs, some long, others short, collected into a thin 



