46 CICONIIDffi LBPTOPTILUS 



The range of this genus includes the Ethiopian and Orienta 

 regions extending to Southern China and Borneo. Three species 

 are generally recognised, only one of which is found within our 

 limits. 



582. Leptoptilus orumeniferus. Marabou. 



Cioonia argala, (nee Lath.), Temm. PI. Col. v. pi. 301 (1824). 



Leptoptilos orumenifera, Less., Traite d'Orn. p. 585 (1831) ; Layard, 

 B. 8. Afr. p. 316 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 259 ; id. in Anders- 

 son's B. Damaral. p. 282 (1872) ; Holuh S Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. 

 p. 287 (1882) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 365 [Umvuli Eiver] ; Sharjie, 

 ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 734 (1884) ; W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 63 ; 

 Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, pp. 361, 386-; Kirby, Haunts of Wild 

 Game, p. 559 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 319 (1898) ; Wood- 

 ward Bros., Natal B. p. 201 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 268 ; 

 Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 338 (1901). 



Leptoptilus argala, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896). 



Description. Adtolt. — Head and neck, as far as the shoulders 

 and centre of the breast and projecting pouch, bare of feathers ; 

 general colour above black with metallic reflections, the greater 

 coverts, inner secondaries and scapulars with white margins ; below 

 white throughout. 



Iris brown ; bill dirty green ; bare skin of the head and neck 

 dirty yellowish ; legs black, covered with a fine, ashy powder. 



Length 40-0 ; wing 29-0 ; tail 11-8 ; culmen 10-8 ; tarsus 11-0 ; 

 middle toe and claw 4'5. 



These measurements are presumably those of a female, the 

 male appears to be slightly larger — wing 31'0; tail 14-0. Young 

 birds have a smaller bill and the hind part of the head and neck 

 are clothed more or less with woolly down, with sometimes remains 

 of a few feathers ; the edging to the coverts and secondaries is 

 light brown or whitish, and much less marked than in the adults. 



Distribution. — The Marabou is spread over tropical Africa from 

 the Gambia in the west, and from Khartoum on the Nile in the 

 east, southwards. Within our limits it is found commonly only 

 along the Zambesi Valley and in the neighbourhood of Lake Ngami, 

 though stragglers have been reported from further south from time 

 to time. 



The following are ascertained localities : Cape Colony — Zwart-kei 

 Eiver in Queenstown division (once obtained by Bowker and Layard) ; 



