192 LEPTOPTILUS. 



Beefsteak Bird. Ethiopian region, India, Ceylon, Burma, Cochin China, Indo- 

 Malayan Islands, and Celebes. Four eggs (2-5 x 1-83), bluish white. (J. 920. 

 B. 1548.) 



Also the genus Euxenura. With tail deeply forked, sides of face and centre of throat 

 feathered. One species — E. maguari, 45", general colour white, confined to S. America. 



Also the genus Abdimia. With tail slightly forked, and under tail-coverts as long as the 

 tail, sides of face and centre of throat feathered. One species — A, abdimii, 30", general colour 

 black, glossed green, from tropical Africa and S. Arabia. 



(iii.) With under tail-coverts of soft downy plumes. 

 Genus LEPTOPTILUS. 



Xe7rT6s=thin ; irriXov = a wing. 



Bill enormous. Head and neck more or less nude, with fluflfy down or a few 

 hair-like feathers. Pendent neck-pouch. Under-tail somewhat decomposed, and 

 called Marabou feathers. Adjutants as scavengers are in many places protected 

 by law. Africa and India, extending to the Indo-Malayan subregion. 



203. Leptoptilus dubius. The Gigantic or Adjutant Stork. 



Hargila, Dusta, India; Chaniari-dauk, Bengal; Garur, N.W.P.; Pini-gala-konga 

 (Telugu) ; Don-zat, Burma. 



$ 60". $ 55". Legs grey-white. Bill 12" to 13", greenish. Head bare, 

 with long neck-pouch. White neck ruff. Above, wings and tail dark slaty, 

 glossed green. Wing-band silver-grey, very conspicuous. Under-tail white, with 

 grey-black streaks near tips. — In winter: No wing-band, and pouch yellowish. 

 C. and N. India, Burma, Malay Peninsula, Siam, Cochin China, Sumatra, Java, 

 and Borneo. Three eggs (3 x 2-28), white. (J. 915. B. 1550.) 



The bones of the forelimb or wing of the Adjutant are thin-walled and hollow, 

 the interior being filled, not with marrow as in Mammals, but with air, which 

 gains access by apertures connected with the general system of air cavities ex- 

 tending through the body, which apertures occur at the ends of the humerus, 

 radius, and ulna. This hollow or " pneumatic " condition of the bones, which 

 diminishes the specific gravity of the body, and must therefore be advantageous 

 to the bird when on the wing, though very general, is not found in all birds, or 

 in any birds when very young, the interior of the bones being then filled with 

 marrow. It must also be noticed that the amount of pneumaticity of the bones 

 by no means follows the development of the power of flight. In the Ostrich, 

 for example, the bones are far more extensively pneumatic than in the GuU. 



On 21.12.72 Dillon, of the 66th Begiment, sent me a young bird shot near 

 Ghizree. Top of the head baldj no hair-like feathers on occiput or face; and no 

 distinctive mane or tuft. Ruff moderate. Upper plumage white, tinged rosy; 

 sides greenish black, edged white. Rest as described in Jerdon. BiU dirty 

 yellow. Bare head yellowish red. Face nude. Hair-like feathers on neck tinged 

 red. . Legs dusky black, with hexagonal scales. Bar on wing similar to that of 

 the Gigantic Stork, but not quite complete, and tinged rosy. A few of the upper 

 coverts tinged crimson. Length 48". Wing 19". Tail 7 J". Tarsus 8 J". Mid 

 toe 4^". Bill 8f ", curved towards tip. — A. Le M. 



