HERON. 45 



Argil!, or Hurgill, Ives's Voy. p. 183. 8. 



eiGANTlC CR. 



fPHE bird here quoted feems to be of the Heron tribe, and is Description. 



a very large fpecies; from tip to tip of the wings meafuring 

 fourteen feet ten inches ; and from the tip of the bill to the claws, 

 feven feet and a half: the bill fixteen inches round at the bafe, 

 of different colours, and nearly of a triangular fhape : the fea- 

 thers of the back and wings very ftrong, and of an iron-colour; 

 thofe of the breaft long : over the belly a great deal of down, of 

 a dirty white : the legs and half the thighs naked -, the naked 

 parts full three feet in length. 



This monfter, as Ives terms it, inhabits Bengal, and is alfo Place and 

 found at Calcutta ; at the laft place called Hurgill, or Argill. It Manners. 

 majeftically ftalks along before one, and appears at firfl: like a 

 naked Indian. The common opinion is, that the 'fouls of the 

 Bramins poffefs thefe birds. " On opening one of thefe, a Terapin, 

 or land Tortoife, ten inches long, was found in its craw, and a 

 large male black cat was found intire in its ftomach *." 



I have fcarce a doubt of the above being the fame as a fpecies 

 remarked by Mr. Smeathman in Africa, while refident there 5 an 

 adult one of which will often meafure full 7 feet, when ftanding 

 erect. He defcribes the plumage much the fame as in Mr. Ives's 

 bird; adding, that the gape is monftroufly wide: the head covered 

 with white down, thinly difperfed, appearing not unlike a grey- 

 headed man : on the middle of the neck before, a long, conic 



* In Sumatra is faid to be a great variety of the Stork kind ; fome of z fra- 

 digious fize, and otherwife curious ; as the Boorong Cambing and Booring-otlar* 

 —See Marfd. Sumatr. p. 98. 



membrane. 



