Bati—ldentification of the Animals and Plants of India. 325 
ordinary size, and have their crests, not red, as elsewhere, or, at least, 
in our country, but have the flower-like coronals, of which the crest is 
formed, variously coloured. Their rump feathers again are neither 
curved nor wreathed, but are of great breadth, and they trail them in 
the way peacocks trail their tails, when they neither strengthen nor 
erect them ; the feathers of these Indian cocks are in colour golden, and 
also dark blue, like the smaragdus.”’ 
It is probable that monal pheasants, captured in the Himalayas, 
were brought into India for sale, and thus became known to the Greeks. 
The same bird is, I believe, referred to under the name Catreus 
by Strabo, where he quotes from Cleitarchus, and tells us that the 
bird was beautiful in appearance, had variegated plumage, and ap- 
proached the peacock in shape. A suggestion that this was a bird of 
paradise is therefore absurd, and is otherwise most improbable, since 
birds of paradise are found not in India but in New Guinea. With 
this also I am inclined to identify ‘‘the partridge larger than a vul- 
ture,” which, as related by Strabo,® on the authority of Nicolaus 
Damascenus, was sent by Porus, with other presents, in charge of an 
embassy, to Augustus Ceesar. 
23. Tor Kezas (K7AXas). 
Leptoptilos argala, Linn.—The Adjutant. 
In the following passage from Adlian, we may, I think, recognise 
the adjutant :—‘‘I learn further, that in India there is a bird which is 
thrice the size of the bustard, and has a bill of prodigious size, and long 
legs. It is furnished also with an immense crop, resembling a leather 
pouch. The cry which it utters is peculiarly discordant. The 
plumage is ash-coloured, except that the feathers, at their tips, are 
tinted with a pale yellow.’ 
The pouch and long legs sufficiently identify this bird with the 
well-known characters of the adjutant. 
REPTILES. 
24. Tortorsr (XeAwv7. ) 
Trionyx, Sp.? if a true river Tortoise. 
In reference to this animal, A‘lian® tells us that ‘‘it is found in 
India, where it lives in the rivers. It is of immense size, and it has a 
55 Geographica, xv.c. 1, § 69. 56 Geographica, xv. c. 1, § 73. 
57 Hist. Anim., xvi. 4. 58 Hist. Anim., xvi. 14. 
