THE ADJUTANT. 



187 



common in part of Northern India, and more especially in Bengal and North-eastern India. I never 

 saw it in the Carnatic, nor in Malabar ; it is occasionally met with in Mysore, and is not rare in 

 Hyderabad, thence becoming more common and abundant northwards. It spreads through Burmah 

 to the Malayan peninsula. It is only a temporary .resident in India, coming in towards the close of 

 the hot weather in April or May, and remaining till October. A very few barren or unpaired birds 

 remain occasionally in parts of the country. In Calcutta, and some other large towns, the Adjutant 

 is a familiar bird, unscared by the near approach of man or dog, and protected in some cases by law. 

 It is an efficient scavenger, attending the neighbourhood of slaughter-houses, and especially the 

 burning grounds of the Hindoos, where the 

 often half-burnt carcases are thrown into 

 the rivers. It also diligently looks over the 

 Leaps of refuse and offal thrown out in the 

 streets to await the arrival of the scavengers' 

 carts, where it may be seen in company with 

 dogs, kites, and crows. It likes to vary its 

 food, however, and may often be seen search- 

 ing ditches, pools of water, and tanks for 

 frogs and fish. In the Deccan it soars to an 

 immense height in the air along with Vul- 

 tures, ready to descend on any carcass that 

 may be discovered. After it has satisfied the 

 cravings of its appetite, the Adjutant reposes 

 during the heat of the day, sometimes on the 

 tops of houses, and now and then on trees, 

 and frequently on the ground, resting often 

 on the whole leg (tarsus). The Adjutant 

 occasionally may seize a crow or a myna, or 

 even, as related, a small cat ; but these are 

 rare bits for it, and indeed it has not the 

 opportunity in general of indulging its taste 

 for living birds, notwithstanding Cuvier's 

 statement, ' that its lai'ge beak enables it 

 to capture birds on the wing.' " Dr. Jerdon 



then mentions a description published in 1861 of an Adjutant swallowing a crow, the author of 

 which account stated that he " saw it pass into the sienna-toned pouch of the gaunt avenger. 

 He who writes saw it done." Again, wrote this same observer, " The Adjutant's cry very much 

 resembles water flowing from a narrow-necked bottle, and he invariably utters it when about to 

 swallow a piece of offal." " These xitterly unfounded statements " called up Mr. Blyth in the " Ibis," 

 Yol. iii., p. 268, who showed that both the passing of the crow into the pouch, and the call of the 

 Adjutant, were simply impossible, in consequence of structural peculiarities. The Adjutant breeds in 

 trees, on rocky cliffs, occasionally, it is said, in lofty trees away from hills. The neighbourhood of 

 Moulmein is one of the best-known localities. The nests were found by Colonel Tickell on trees near 

 the summit of some of the remarkable limestone rocky hills near that place. Captain Sparks had pre- 

 viously found the nest in the same locality ; and Mr. Frith found them breeding in the south-east part 

 of the Sunderbuuds. The Adjutant lays two white eggs, and the young are covered with white down. 



" The feathers, known as marabou, or Comercolly feathers, and sold in Calcutta, are the under tail- 

 coverts of this and another species [the Marabou Stork]. There is a popular superstition that if yon 

 split the head of this bird before death, you will extract from it the celebrated stone called Zahir 

 mora, or poison killer, of great virtue and repute as an antidote to all kinds of poison." 



THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE HERODIOXES. THE SPOONBILLS AND IBISES (Platakldal). 



Although in outward appearance, at least, as far as their bills are concerned, the two groups of 

 the Spoonbills and Ibises appear so different, yet they are closely allied on anatomical grounds, and 



WHITE STORK. 



