388 PLATALEIN.E. 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p 24; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 



p. 435 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 276 ; Swinhoe 



and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 136. 

 THE PELICAN IBIS. 



Length, 42 ; expanse, 72 ; wing, 20 ; tail, 7 ; tarsus, 775 ; bill at 

 front, 9 to 10. 



Bill deep yellow, tip greenish, as also are the naked orbits, 

 head and gular skin ; irides pale yellow-brown ; legs fleshy-red. 



Plumage white ; the quills and tail richly glossed green-black ; 

 tertiaries white, beautifully tinged with rosy, with a darker band 

 near the end, and a white tip ; the feathers loose and decomposed ; 

 lesser and median-coverts glossy green, with white edges ; greater- 

 coverts pure white. 



In summer the tertiaries acquire a deeper rosy tint, and the 

 bill and nude parts become of a brighter and deeper yellow. 



The young bird has the plumage generally brown, paler on the 

 back and rump, dark on the wing-coverts ; beneath more or less 

 albescent, with a broad brown patch on the sides of the abdomen ; 

 bill pale greenish-yellow. 



The Pelican ibis, or Painted Adjutant, is generally distributed 

 throughout the region. It is a permanent resident. I found a 

 colony of these birds breeding in March, at Hir, about ten miles 

 from Neemuch ; the nests, considering the size of the birds, were 

 very frail ; they were composed of twigs, and the eggs could be 

 seen from below ; there were fifty or sixty nests, and none contain- 

 ed more than four eggs, but they were all fresh, and possibly they 

 may lay more. The eggs are elongated ovals, much compressed 

 at one end ; the shell is fine and compact, of a dull white color. 



They measure 276 inches in length by about 1*9 in breadth. 



SUB-FAMILY, Plataleinae. 



Bill very broad, flat, and depressed. 



GENUS, Platalea, Lin. 



Bill long, very broad, depressed and thin, dilated, and rounded 

 at the extremity like a spatula ; nostrils basal, oblong, apert ; wings 

 moderate, second quill longest ; tibia bare for nearly half its 

 length ; tarsus moderately long, reticulated ; the three anterior toes 

 united at the base by a deeply cut web ; head and face more or 

 less nude. 



Platalea leucorodia, Lin. 



937. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 763 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 24 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol: 

 IX, p. 433 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 277 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 136. 



THE SPOONBILL. 



Length, 31 to 36 ; wing, 14'5 to 16 ; tail, 6'5 ; tarsus, 5 to 6 ; bill 

 at front, 7'8 to 8'5. 



