1114 LEPTOPTILUS JAVANICUS. 



the island. It is, however, nowhere abundant, and in the breeding-season, I imagine, retires to the wildest and 

 most unfrequented tanks to breed. Notwithstanding, it is quite possible that its numbers are increased during 

 the north-east monsoon by sundry arrivals from India. 



In the peninsula of India it is not a very common bird. Jerdon writes of its general distribution as 

 follows : — " This species of Adjutant is found in small numbers throughout India, frequenting marshes, inun- 

 dated paddy-fields, and the edges of lakes and rivers. It prefers a wooded country; and in the south of India 

 I have only seen it on the Malabar coast. It is rare in Central India and the Upper Provinces, is now and 

 then found in Lower Bengal, and more common in Assam, Sylhet, and Burmah." In the Deccan Messrs. 

 Davidson and Wenden say that it occurs during the rains about marshy tanks on the outskirts of the Nulwar 

 jungles. In Ghota Nagpur Mr. Ball has met with it in Manbhum, Sirguja, Sambalpur, Lohardugga, and 

 Jaipur. Mr. Hume has occasionally seen it at Calcutta. I do not, however, find Mr. Cripps noticing 

 it in his list of Furreedporc birds, nor Mr. Inglis in his Cachar list. In both Upper and Lower Pegu, however, 

 it is common, and Jerdon, as quoted above, asserts that it inhabits Assam. Vast assemblies of both species 

 visit Pegu to breed ; and so abundant are they that Mr. Oates has counted more than two hundred in a small 

 pool of three acres. Southward, in Teuasserim it is very sparingly distributed throughout the central and 

 southern portions of the province, the majority being probably seasonal visitants, from October to April 

 (Hume). Mr. Davison has seen them most abundantly about Moulmein and Thatone, where they breed on 

 masses of limestone rocks. It extends probably through all the Malay peninsula, although we only know of 

 its occurrence as yet in Malacca. It has been obtained in Sumatra, being included in Sir Stamford llaflies's 

 list of the birds of that island ; and in Java it was procured by Horsfield, and first described by him from his 

 specimens. Salvadori records it from Sarawak, in Borneo ; and recently Mr. Low has obtained it in the 

 province of Lumbidan. Going northward now, we find it in Hainan in marshes, in the centre of which island 

 Mr. Swinhoe met with it ; Pere David likewise records it from Cochin China, and met with it in Kiangse in 

 the mouth of July. 



Habits. — Unlike the larger Adjutant, this bird, instead of frequenting towns and villages, and performing 

 the duties of a useful though very unsightly scavenger, shuns the society of man, and frequents jungle and 

 forest-country, affecting lonely marshes, tanks, swamps, banks of rivers, and even small water-holes in the 

 depths of wild and unfrequented jungle. In Ceylon it is almost exclusively found about the latter localities 

 and small tanks in the very remotest recesses of the northern and eastern forests. It is often seen in small 

 parties of three or four, but more frequently is encountered singly, and when disturbed usually flies to the 

 top of a tall tree on the outskirts of the jungle, where it remains until from its elevated position it sees that 

 the field is clear, when it descends again to its fishing-grounds. While thus perched its neck is outstretched 

 and head elevated, its attitude being one of watchfulness ; but when standing on the ground or walking in 

 water the neck is entirely drawn in, and the nape actually rests against the shoulders, from which position, 

 however, the head is shot instantaneously out when it catches sight of its prey. 1 have observed that in a state 

 of captivity the mandibles are scraped together with a quick lateral motion, this action being performed when 

 the bird expects to be fed. When reposing it squats on the hind part of the tarsus, with the toes stretched 

 out. Its diet is miscellaneous as regards animal food, and large insects, such as locusts, are also devoured by 

 it. In the stomach of an example I shot in the Trincomalie district I found the remains of frogs, crabs, fish, 

 and a small mammal, probably a rat. In conjunction with its larger ally and Pelicans it is said to create 

 tremendous havoc among fish in Burmah when the tanks are drying up. This Stork, like its relation, the 

 Pouched Adjutant, is a very silent bird ; the latter during the breeding-season makes a noise like the "low of 

 a buffalo," or a cow which has been robbed of its calf; and most probably the note of our species is similar. 



Jerdon remarks that " its Bengalee name Modun-tiki is applied to it ironically, from its ugly head and 

 neck, the expression meaning that the hair of its head is as beautiful as Modun, one of the sons of Krishna." 



NhUfication. — It is somewhat noteworthy that as yet the Adjutant has not been found breeding in 

 ( Vylon. If, as Mr. Parker informs me, it is resident in the northern forests, it must needs breed somewhere, 

 and being such a large bird it is singular that some "colony " has not been discovered. It may after all be 

 inly migratory; but against this hypothesis we must set the fact that at the time of its visiting Ceylon it is 



