808 



Birds of Celebes: Ciconiidae. 



Eggs. "The eggs in my collection from East India are considerably smaller than those of 

 our Ciconia alba, but resemble them in structure. They measure 60 — 65 X 47 mm" 

 (Nehrkorn MS.). Four eggs make up the sitting. They ai-e said by Hume to vary 

 much in shape and when perfectly fresh to be of a faintly bluish white, or, held 

 against the light, of a delicate pale green. See, also, Bocarme e 2. 



Nest. In large trees; "they are densely built of twigs and small branches, and have a con- 

 siderable central depression, sometimes thinly lined witli down and feathers, and 

 sometimes almost filled with straw, leaves and feathers, in amongst which the eggs 

 are sunk as if packed for travelling" (Hume 14). 



Distribution. India (Jerdon, etc. g 5, 4, 14); Ceylon (Legge, etc. 4); Burmah (Oates, 

 etc. 10); Tenasserim (Davison g 6); Malay Peninsula (Blyth 2); Sumatra (Wagler 

 g 5); Java (Horsfield c 1, de Bocarm^ c 2, etc.); Lombok (Everett 15); Borneo 

 (Treacher 5? 5, Platen ^10, Grabowski gf ii, g 15); Philippine Islands (Everett ^^ 7, 

 Steere gl6, Bourns & "Worcester g 17, "Whitehead </ 2S); Celebes — Minahassa 

 (Meyer g 8, Nat. Coll.), Gorontalo Distr. (Riedel g 14, Meyer g 8), Saussu River, 

 Tomini Gulf (Rosenberg c 2, c 3), Togian Id. (Meyer g 8), Lake Posso (P.&F. 

 Sarasin g 19, g 20). 



The "White-necked Stork also inhabits Africa under a form which differs 

 slightly from that of the Indian countries, and which seems worthy of specific 

 or subsijecific distinction. The bird from the "White Nile was named Ciconia 

 pruyssenaeri by Heuglin, who afterwards withdrew the name, but our two 

 specimens from West Africa and Abyssinia are recognisable as distinct from 

 D. episcopus of India by the black feathers of the occiput having a mesial terminal 

 streak of white in them, and those of the nape white like the neck, but the 

 feathers of the nape are contour-feathers and not down as on the neck. The 

 down on the face and forehead is for the most part black; in D. episcopus it is 

 white. The toes also seem to be longer when compai'ed with the tarsus. 



Dissoura episcopus is not often found in the Minahassa, according to Meyer's 

 observations , but is not rare in the Gulf of Tomini. It has not yet been re- 

 corded from South Celebes, but the cousins Sarasin found it an inhabitant of 

 Central Celebes on the marshy ground at the southern end of Lake Posso. It 

 is probably a constant resident in the island, which marks, so far as is known, 

 the easternmost bounds of its range. 



In many respects Dissoura is a curious bird. The neck of the adult is 

 clothed in white down; the contour-feathers are here wanting, but they are 

 produced (at least to some extent) in the young bird, which no doubt displays 

 a more ancestral condition in this respect. The face is naked save for a very 

 little down, but on the head there is a sort of skull-cap of normal contour- 

 feathers. The Storks and Ibises in general appear as if they were undergoing 

 the process of becoming bald about the head and neck, as witness the Adjutants 

 (Leptoptihis), the Jabiru (Mycteria), Tantalus, Geronticus, Threskiornis , etc. The 

 skull-cap of Dissoura has all the appearance of being a remnant of the original 

 covering of the head and neck of the bird. Whilst it has lost feathers on the 

 head and neck, it has developed in size those of the tail, the lateral upper — 



