270 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Naked skin of the head and neck blackish brown ; a pure white band 
encircles the neck at its junction with the head^ tinged with blue on the 
nape ; bill bluish ; iris orange -red ; legs pale coral-red ; claws brown. 
Length 30 inches,, tail 7*7, wing 15*2^ tarsus 3'2^ bill from gape 6*2. 
The female is rather smaller. 
This species is very closely allied to the Indian Inocotis papillosus, and 
differs chiefly in being larger and in having a white collar round the upper 
neck. The Indian bird^ in addition, has warts on the back of the head, 
which G. davisom never has. 
Davison^s Black Ibis is not uncommon in the plains of Southern Pegu 
between the Pegu and the Sittang rivers, and it appears to be a constant 
resident. Mr. Davison observed it in the southernmost portions of 
Tenasserim. 
In occurs in Siam and Cochin China, and Mr. Hume records it from 
Tonka in the Malay peninsula. /. papillosus is said to occur in Borneo ; 
but as the differences between this bird and G. davisoni have only recently 
been recognized, it is not improbable that the Bornean bird may on re- 
examination prove to be the present species. After death the conspicuous 
white neck-collar turns blackish, and all traces of it eventually disappear in 
rather old skins, so that this feature is not of much service in discrimina- 
ting the two species. Mr. Blyth records /. papillosus from Arrakan ; but 
until Arrakanese birds have been carefully examined again and been 
ascertained to belong to that species, I do not think it advisable to include 
it in this work. I may note that a black Ibis is not uncommon in the 
plains near Henzadah, west of the Irrawaddy river ; but I have not been 
able to examine a specimen from that locality. 
Davison^s Black Ibis usually occurs singly or in pairs, and I do not 
remember ever to have seen a flock of them. It feeds on the banks of 
muddy streams and in marshes, and is of a very shy nature. In the hot 
weather I have seen it on recently burnt-up plains, where, no doubt, insects 
and small reptiles, deprived of cover, readily fall a prey to this bird, as they 
do'to Kites and many others. I found the nest of this Ibis at Wau, on 
the banks of the canal, in February ; it was a structure of sticks placed 
low down in a large tree growing in a wilderness of reeds, and contained 
two pale blue eggs. The cry of this bird at the breeding-season is very 
loud and peculiar, and may be heard fully two miles off. 
Ibis gigantea, a very large species of Ibis from Cochin China, is not 
unlikely to be found in Burmah. It is blackish brown with green re- 
flections, and it has the bill yellow and the legs red. 
