CICONID.E. 375 



mane on the back of the neck, and a small tuft on the lower part 

 of the neck; a large white neck-raff covering the sides of the 

 neck and breast ; plumage above glossy greenish-black ; all the 

 body feathers and the lesser wing-coverts faintly barred with 

 several narrow bars ; scapulars, the uppermost tertiaries, and the 

 last of the greater-coverts more brightly green glossed and edged 

 with white ; plumage beneath w r hite. 



Jerdon states that the Hair-crested Adjutant is found in small 

 numbers throughout India, but as a matter of fact within our limits 

 it has very doubtfully been recorded from the Deccan, and a 

 single specimen was obtained by myself in Central India. 



GENUS, Xenorhynchus, Bona. 



Bill very long, stout, solid, compressed, slightly ascending to the 

 tip ; tarsus much elongated. 



Xenorhynchus asiaticus, Lath. 



917. Myoleria australis, Shaw. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. 

 II, p. 734; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 22; 

 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 BLACK-NECKED STORK. 



Length, 52 to 56; wing, 23 to 24; tail, 9; tarsus, 12 to 13; 

 bill at front, 1 1 to 13. 



Bill black ; irides brown; legs red. 



Head and neck rich dark glossy-green, beautifully glossed with 

 purple on the hind-head and occiput ; middle and greater-coverts, 

 scapulars, and a portion of the interscapulars, tertiaries, and tail 

 glossy green ; the rest of the plumage pure white. 



The Black-necked Stork is fairly common in Sind ; further 

 south in Guzerat it becomes less common, and in the Deccan it is 

 rare. It is a permanent resident, building a large platform nest 

 of sticks about September in some high tree. The eggs, three 

 or four in number, are moderately broad ovals, compressed 

 towards one end ; they are unspotted sullied white in color. The 

 shell is smooth to the touch" but rather coarse in texture. The 

 eggs vary from 2'65 to 3*13 inches in length, and from 1*98 to 2'3 

 in. breadth, but they average 2'9I by 2'12. 



GENCS, Ciconia, Linnceus. 



Bill straight, moderately robust, acute ; upper mandible convex 

 above ; lower mandible inclining a little upwards at the^ tip ; nos- 

 trils pierced in the horny substance of the bill ; orbits more or 

 less naked ; tarsi long ; a considerable part of the tibia nude ; 

 wings moderate, ample, third and fourth quills longest; toes 

 strongly webbed at the base ; hind-toe moderately long ; claws 

 short, depressed, blunt, not pectinated. 



