762 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Pennant, Ind. Zool., pi. 11 — Dokh, H. — J ami glial or Jaungliil, H. 

 in the North of India — Kut saranga, and Janghir, Beng. — also 

 JRam-jhankar and Sona-janga, Beng. — Lamjang and Lamdulc, Sindh. 

 — Yerri kali-konga, Tel* — Shiga nareh/Vsun.. 



The Pelican-Ibis. 



Descr. — 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 decom- 

 posed ; lesser and median coverts glossy green, with white edges ; 

 greater coverts pure white. 



Bill deep yellow (with the tip greenish), as are the naked orbits, 

 head and gular skin ; irides pale yellow-brown, grey in some ; 

 legs fleshy red. Length about 42 inches ; extent 6 feet ; wing 

 20 inches ; tail 7 ; bill at front 9 to 10 ; tarsus nearly 8. 



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 albes- 

 cent, with a broad brown patch on the sides of the abdomen. Bill 

 pale greenish-yellow. 



The Pelican-Ibis is extremely common throughout India, 

 Burmah, and Ceylon, frequenting rivers, tanks, ponds, and marshes, 

 generally in parties more or less numerous, occasionally alone. 

 It stalks about the shallows with its bill in the water, 

 partially held open, and instantly seizes any fish, frog, or 

 crab that comes in its way. If the fish be a spiny one, it crushes 

 its spines between its strong mandibles, and then swallows it, 

 head foremost. During the heat of the day, it stands motionless 

 in water, knee deep, digesting its morning meal. It breeds on 

 high trees, making a large nest of sticks, and laying four white eggs, 

 sometimes faintly blotched with pale brown. Burgess found 

 fifty nests together in some large Banian trees, in a village in 

 the Deccan in February. Further North it is later, breeding in 

 May and June. When caught young, it soon gets very tame, 

 and recognises the man who feeds it. I have seen one threaten 



