158 ibis. 



22.— BARE-NECKED IBIS. 



LENGTH two feet nine inches. Bill six inches and a half long, 

 black, much bent, blunt, compressed, angular, with two furrows, 

 which run from the nostrils to the point; tongue very short, and 

 sagittal, with the posterior sinus denticulated ; a similar ridge runs 

 across the palate ; irides light brown ; head and neck quite naked, 

 and black ; at the lower part of the neck, and on the breast, are 

 some long recurved feathers, with bristly webs, forming a kind of 

 pendulous tuft ; all the feathers are white, and have a fine gloss, 

 except a few of the scapulars on each side, which are as long as the 

 tail, very broad, loose in texture, and of a fine ash-colour ; the shafts 

 of the prime quills have, in some, on the outside, a longitudinal 

 black streak ; in others they are entirely white ; the legs, and naked 

 part above the joint, dark ash-colour ; the wings as long as the tail ; 

 the hind toe is pretty long, and between the three toes before a small 

 web ; claws sharp. 



This bird is found in jeels near Calcutta, and lives on fish, frogs, 

 &c. : it is the Bogo of the Mussulmans; Castea Chura, or Cuchea 

 Chura, of the Bengalese ; this last name signifies the stealer of a 

 sickle, from the resemblance which the bill has to that implement of 

 agriculture. I observe that the bare part of the thighs, next the 

 body, in the drawing, is reddish; and the legs, just above the joining 

 on of the toes, have a remarkable bend.* 



One similar, in Sir J. Anstruther's drawings, is called Murwal, 

 and another Bouga, and has a purplish tinge on the upper parts of 

 the body ; but in neither are there any loose feathers on the breast, 

 or ash-coloured, loose ones over the tail ; in other markings they 

 correspond with the above described. 



* Dr. Buchanan. 



