XENORHYNCHFS ASIATICITS. 



(THE BLACK-NECKED STORK.) 



Mycteria asiatica, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 670 (1790), adult. - 



Ardea indica, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 701 (1790), immature. 



Mycteria australis (Shaw), Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. 51 (1848) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 276 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 114; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



iii. p. 734 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 477. 

 Mycteria indica (Lath.), Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 607 (1875). 

 Xenorhynchus asiaticus (Lath.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 469, et 1879, 



p. 44 (List B. of Ind.). 

 Indian Jabiru, Lath. Syn. Suppl. p. 231 ; Loharjung Heron, Lath, (immature) ; Indian 



Jabiru of some. Banaras, Loharjung, Hind. ; Ram salik, Bengal (Jerdon) ; Peria koku, 



Ceylonese Tamils, lit. " Large Heron." 

 Al-koka, lit. " Man-Heron," from its size, Sinhalese (Layard). 



Adult (India : B. Mus.). Wing 25-0 inches ; tail 10-0 ; bare tibia 7-0 ; tarsus 11-8 ; middle toe 4-3 ; bill at front 12-0. 



Male (Pegu). Length 52-4 inches ; wing 22-0 ; tail 9'4 ; tarsus 12-7 ; bill from gape 119 : expanse 85-0 {Oates). 



Mah- (Australia: Phil. Mus.). Wing 19-5 inches; tarsus 12-0; bill at front 12-0. 

 • [ris bluish brown ; bill black, gular skin dusky purple; eyelids dusky purple, turning to pink at the centre of the 



lower lid; legs and feet coral-red, claws dusky pink." (Oates.) 



A. i'ih (B. Mus.). Head and neck glossy green-black ; the crown, occiput, and nape purple, the whole illumined with 

 a strong metallic sheen ; greater wing-coverts, tertials, scapulars, and tail greeu-black, highly glossed ; some of 

 the underlying tertials white, the upper scapulars washed with greyish ; all the rest of the plumage pure white. 



I nature (Ceylon, June 1875). Wing 23-2 inches ; bill at front 10-1, height at anterior edge of nostril 1-0. 



/■' ninh- (Sambhur). Length 52'8 inches ; wing 24'0 ; tail 9'6 ; tarsus 13-5 ; bill at front 1P5. 



lri< brown; bill black. 



( India : B. Mus.) Head and neck greyish brown, blending iuto the white of the chest ; upper back, lesser and median 

 wing-eoverts glossy hair-brown ; lower back and rump white, washed with brown ; quills black, glossed with 

 green ; tail whitish at the base, terminal half black ; edges of the neck-feathers greyish white. 



An example killed in June in Ceylon is in a phase of plumage between the above and the adult dress. Head dark 

 brown, glossed with green ; the wing-coverts are greenish black, tipped pale, the lesser series and point of the 

 wing brown, edged with fulvous ; primaries white at the base and brown on the terminal portions, the white 

 increasing from the first quill, which is almost entirely brown, to the innermost, the four inner feathers being only 

 tipped with brown; secondaries with the outer webs and tips greenish brown, mingled with whitish. 



06s. Owing to a mistake made by Gould in describing the Australian Jabiru, and Gray probably following him, the 

 latter bird has been considered distinct l'roin the Indian. Gould described the "lower part of the back " as being 

 •rich glossy green," whereas it is white, and exactly the same as in the Indian bird. I have been kindly favoured 

 by the Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, in answer to my queries on the subject, 

 with a description of Goidd's bird, which is preserved in the Museum of that institution. It runs as follows : — 

 "The tail is dark green, but the whole of the burl-'' (italics not mine), the rump, and tail-coverts are pare white ; 

 the dark green scapulars lie across the back, and it at first looks as though the lower part of the back was really 

 dark green." It will be seen, therefore, that there is no difference between the two forms ; it is noteworthy, 

 however, that the wing-dimension sent me from Philadelphia is inferior to that of Indian birds ; but this is, no 

 doubt, an individual peculiarity. The American Jabirus (restricted Mycteria) have the head and neck bare. 



