266 



CICONID^E. 



Family, CIGONID^— Storks. 



Bill long and stout, compressed to the tip ; nostrils narrow, pierced 

 through the bill and situated near the base of the culmen ; tail 

 moderate ; front toes united at the base. 



Gen. Leptoptilos.— L&ss. 



Bill very large, high at base, much thickened ; keel straight ; head 

 and neck more or less naked. Under tail-coverts composed of long, 

 lax, decomposed feathers, known as marabou. 



Leptoptilos argala, Lin.; Jerd. B. Ind. iii. p. 730, No. 915; 

 Sir. F. i. p. 252; Murray, Hdhh, ZooL, 8fc., Sind, p. 225. Leptoptilos 

 dubius, Chn. PL Col. 300. Leptoptilos marabou. Tern. P. B. 300.— 

 The Adjutant or Gigantic Stoek. 



In Breeding Plumage. — Head, neck and gular pouch bare, except a 

 few short scattered hair-like feathers varying in colour from yellowish 

 red to fleshy red; ruff white; back, lesser and median wing-coverts, 

 primaries and secondaries black with a greenish gloss ; the greater 

 coverts and tertiaries silvery grey, forming a wing band; under parts 

 white. In non-breeding plumage the white wing band is absent and 

 the black plnmage much duller. 



Bill pale dirty greenish; irides greyish white. 



Length. — 60 inches, wing 30, tail 11, bill at front 12 inches, tarsus 

 11, pouch 16 to 18 inches in length. 



Mab. — Sind and throughout the greater part of India; rare in the 

 South, absent in Malabar, where it is replaced by L, javanicus ; spread 

 throughout North and N. E. India to Burmah and the Malayan 

 Peninsula. In the Deccan, also in Guzerat and Bengal, it is of much 

 service as a scavenger. Its food is very various. Lizards and frogs, 

 and insects too ; refuse from dung heaps also does not come amiss to it. 

 From the craw of three specimens collected about 80 miles east of 

 Kurrachee, lizards, ( Uromastix hardwicMi) were extracted. In each 

 an entire animal in four pieces was found which had evidently not been 

 long swallowed. The pieces were vevj neatly cut ; the head making 

 one, the body in two longitudinal halves, and the tail entire, the fourth 

 piece. 



Gen. Xenorhynclnas.— 5p. 



Bill very large, stout and solid, the tip turned up ; 2nd and 3rd quills 

 longest. 



Xenorliynchus asiaticus. Lath.-, Gr. 111. Ind. Zool. pi. Mycteria 

 australis, Shaw. ; Jerd. B. Ind. iii. p. 734; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., Sfc, 

 Sind, p. 225. — The Blace-necked Stork. 



Head and neck rich dark glossy green, glossed on the hind head with 

 purple ; lesser, median and greater coverts and scapulars, also the inter- 

 scapulars and tail dark brown, mixed with rich bluish green with a 

 golden tinge, rest of plumage white ; bill black ; legs reddish. 



