XENOKHYNCHUS ASIATICUS. 1117 



Distribution. — This enormous bird is occasionally met with in Ceylon during both the monsoons of the 

 year, which favours the belief that it must be a resident in the island, although its rarity points to the sup- 

 position that it is a straggler from India. Layard's experience of it is thus summed up : — " I have only/' 

 he says, " seen a few of these huge waders in the Jaffna estuary at Elephant Pass." I have myself heard of 

 its having been seen in some marshes between Batapala and the Bentota river, about 15 miles inland from 

 Amblangoda, but in all my wanderings have only twice met with it myself — once in January 1873 on the 

 Peria-kerretje salt lagoon, and again in July 1875 at Minery lake, on which occasions I saw single birds. In 

 June 1875 the immature specimen above noticed was shot at Vellai plains by a native accompanying Mr. H. 

 Varian, of the Public Works Department, on a trip to that locality. This gentleman has more than once met 

 with it in remote forest wilds ; and recently Mr. Bligh writes me of an individual which he unsuccessfully 

 stalked at a lagoon near Yala. 



Jerdon states that it is found throughout India, being rare in the south of the Peninsula and more 

 common in Central India and Lower Bengal; but Mr. Hume writes that it breeds pretty well all over the 

 empire in well-watered tracts, where large lakes, jheels, and swamps are common, but is nowhere numerically 

 abundant. The only mention of its occurrence in the Deccan that I find in ' Stray Feathers ' is the suppo- 

 sition of Mr. Davidson that he has seen it there. Mr. Ball has only met with it in Sirguja, Lohardugga, and 

 on the southern borders of Raipur, and above Calcutta it is only occasionally met with. In Guzerat, at the 

 opposite side of the empire, it is not uncommon in suitable localities, as is likewise the case in Kutch and 

 Kattiawar. In Sindh Mr. Hume seldom saw it ; but higher up the Indus in the Punjab he more frequently 

 met with it. In the Sambhur-Lake district Mr. Adam has only twice seen it. Turning eastward, again, I 

 find that it is resident but not common at Thayetmyo and Rangoon, according to Mr. Oates ; and in Tenas- 

 serim it is very rare, having only been seen in the north of Pahpoon. It extends down the peninsula of 

 Malacca in all probability ; for it is recorded from various parts of the Malay archipelago, being common in 

 the Aru Islands, and has lately been recorded by D'Albertis from New Guinea. In Australia it has a wide 

 range, according to Gould, being, however, most abundant on the northern and eastern shores ; but even about 

 Moreton Bay and the Clarence River it used to be common. Mr. Gilbert met with it at Port Essington and 

 also in the interior. Recently, in his list of Australian birds, Mr. Ramsay notes it from Pt. Darwin, Gulf of 

 Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, and other places down the east coast to New South Wales. 



Habits. — This Stork is not by any means a gregarious bird, being usually seen singly or in pairs. It is 

 partial to salt-water lagoons with shallow foreshores, in which it wades far out from the edge of the water, 

 its length of leg giving it great powers of exploration, and enabling it to keep so much in the open that it is 

 with difficulty approached. The lonely lagoons which are to be found all round the east coast of Ceylon, 

 surrounded by Elephant-jungle, and seldom visited by Europeans, are just the spots for this wary giant among 

 Storks. When disturbed it flies off with slow and heavy flaps of its pinions, and after acquiring sufficient 

 impetus sails lazily on with outstretched wings to a place of safety. It feeds on fish, frogs, reptiles, crabs, 

 and even mollusks, according to Jerdon, who likewise states that a very good Bhyri (Peregrine) will strike 

 down this Stork. 



Nidification. — Having no record of the nesting of the Black-necked Stork in Ceylon, I append the 

 following extract from Mr. Hume's ' Nests and Eggs ' : — " It lays, the time varying a good deal according to 

 season, from the beginning of September to the middle of December, and Mr. Home took hard-set eggs as 

 late as the 27th of the latter month. 



" They build upon large trees, very commonly on large Peepul trees ; but I have found the nests on 

 Sheeshum, Semul, and many other kinds. The nest, always a great platform of sticks, is sometimes enormous ; 

 one I found near Badlee was fully 6 feet long by 3 feet broad, and so deep that three fully-fledged young ones 

 just able to fly were able to crouch in it, so as to be invisible even when the nest was looked at from some 

 distance with binoculars. Usually the nest is from 3 to 3| feet in diameter, and with a considerable cavity, 

 not so flat as a Vulture's, but with a deep saucer-shaped depression. It is carefully lined with rushes, grass, 

 pieces of ' ban ' or grass-rope, water-weeds, &c. One nest that I examined had a regular parapet of mud 

 (the kind of clay we call ' chiknee muttee ') all round the margin of the cavity, some 3 inches wide and 2 inches 



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