THE MARABOU STORK. 275 



tiful plumes, superior in estimation even to those of 

 the Ostrich, known by the name of Marabous, from 

 their appellation in Senegal. But those of the Indian 

 species being far superior to the others, M. Temminck 

 has thought fit to transfer to that bird the name of 

 Ciconia Marabou, and to rob it of its native appellation 

 Argala, which he has bestowed upon the African. The 

 consequence of this perversion of their native names 

 has been such as might have been expected. In the 

 late edition of his Regne Animal, M. Cuvier quotes the 

 Ciconia Marabou of Temminck, with the characters of 

 the Indian bird, as a native of Senegal; while he states 

 the Ciconia Argala of the same author, to which he 

 attributes the characters of the African species, to be 

 brouoht from India. Nothino^ could more strongly 

 evince the necessity of restoring, as Mr. Vigors had 

 previously done, in the Appendix to Major Denham's 

 Travels in Africa, the name of Argala to the Indian, 

 and that of Marabou to the African, species. 



The following is an abstract of the differences be- 

 tween these two birds as pointed out by M. Temminck. 

 The African Marabou is smaller than the Indian 

 Argala, the former rarely exceeding five feet in height 

 with its neck fully elongated, while the latter not 

 uncommonly reaches six or even seven feet. In the 

 Argala the bill is enlarged in the middle, the crest of 

 the upper mandible and the edges of the lower forming 

 a curved line from the base to the apex ; in the Mara- 

 bou, on the contrary, all these lines are perfectly 

 straight, and the bill forms a regular cone. The nos- 

 trils of the Indian species are ovate, those of the 

 African oblong; the pouch, as it is termed, at the 

 bottom of the neck, is in the former so much elongated 

 as frequently to hang down more than a foot, while in 

 the latter it is considerably shorter. The iris of the 



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