42 HERON. 



9.-JAVAN CRANE. 



Ciconia Javanica, Lin. Trans, xiii. p. 188. — Horsfield. 



THIS is a large bird, and when standing upright, measures five 

 feet from the head to the ground ; bill eleven inches long ; the body 

 is black, with a gloss of olive, beneath whitish; crown bare; neck 

 covered only with a kind of down, mixed with a few hairs; a broad 

 band of glossy brown passes the wing transversely. 



Inhabits the Island of Java, called there Bangu ; it seems much 

 allied to the Gigantic Species. 



10— MODUN CRANE— Pl. cxlvii. 



LENGTH four feet two inches to the end of the tail, which 

 measures eleven inches and a half; the toes extend one foot three 

 inches and a half beyond the tail, and the wings, when closed, are 

 nearly even with it. Bill nine inches long, straight, sharp-pointed, 

 and somewhat compressed, of a pale d i rly green, inclining above to 

 red; the two mandibles do not shut exactly, but diverge somewhat 

 in the centre; nostrils very narrow, almost obliterated ; crown of the 

 head nearly a bare bone, covered only by its periosteum, of a dirty 

 green colour ; head reddish ; the neck dirty yellow, both covered 



Dr. Buchanan, after describing- the Idol at Juggernaut, worshipped by the Hindoos, 

 and the natives, at Tanjore, and which, at certain times, is drawn on wheels, along the 

 streets, on an excessively ponderous machine, mentions the frequency of pilgrims and 

 religious devotees flinging themselves under it, in order to meet the most welcome and 

 happy deatli, by being crushed beneath its wheels. He observes, there are four animals 

 which are sometimes seen devouring these human victims — the Dog, Jackal, Vulture, 

 and Hurgeela, called also Adjutant, or Gigantic Crane. The dogs and Vultures first 

 begin, both feeding on a carcase together, in which they are joined by the Adjutant, so as 

 to leave no trace of the human frame but the bones. — Researches in Asia, 1811, p. 134. 



