XENOKHYNCHUS ASIATICUS. 
(THE BLACK-NECKED STORK.) 
Mycteria asiatica. Lath. Inch Orn. ii. p. 670 (1790), adult. 
Ardea indica. Lath. Inch Orn. ii. p. 701 (1790), immature. 
Mycteria australis (Shaw), Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. 51 (1848) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
p. 276 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 114; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 
iii. p. 734 (1864); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 477. 
Mycteria indica (Lath.), Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 607 (1875). 
Xenorhynchus asiaticus (Lath.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 469, et 1879, 
p. 44 (List B. of Ind.). 
Indian Jabiru, Lath. Syn. Suppl. p. 231 ; Loharjung Heron, Lath, (immature) ; Indian 
Jabiru of some, llana.ras, Loharjung, Hind. ; Ram salilc, Bengal ( J erdon) ; Pena Jcolcu, 
Ceylonese Tamils, lit. “Large Heron.” 
Al-kolca, lit. “ Man-Heron,” from its size, Sinhalese (Layard). 
Adult (India : B. Mus.). Wing 25'0 inches ; tail 10-0 ; bare tibia 7'0 ; tarsus 1 1'8 ; middle toe 4'3 ; bill at front 12-0. 
Male (Pegu). Length 52 - 4 inches ; wing 22'0 ; tail IP 4 ; tarsus 12' 7 ; bill from gape 11'9 : expanse 85'0 ( Oates ). 
Male (Australia : Phil. Mus.). Wing 19'5 inches ; tarsus 12'0 ; bill at front 12-0. 
“ Iris bluish brown ; bill black, gular skin dusky purple ; ej'elids dusky purple, turning to pink at the centre of the 
lower lid; legs and feet coral-red, claws dusky pink.” (Oates.) 
Adult (B. Mus.). Head and neck glossy green-black ; the crown, occiput, and nape purple, the whole illumined with 
a strong metallic sheen; greater wing-coverts, tertials, scapulars, and tail greeu-black, highly glossed; some of 
the underlying tertials white, the upper scapulars washed with greyish ; all the rest of the plumage pure white. 
Immature (Ceylon, June 1875). Wing 23-2 inches ; bill at front 10-1, height at anterior edge of nostril 1'9. 
Female (Sambhur). Length 52'8 inches ; wing 24'0 ; tail 9-6 ; tarsus 13'5 ; bill at front 11-5. 
Iris brown ; bill black. 
(India : B. Mus.) Head and neck greyish brown, blending into the white of the chest ; upper back, lesser ancl median 
wing-coverts glossy hair-brown ; lower back and rump white, washed with brown ; quills black, glossed with 
green ; tail whitish at the base, terminal half black ; edges of the neck-feathers greyish white. 
An example killed in June in Ceylon is in a phase of plumage between the above and the adult dress. Head dark 
brown, glossed with green ; the wing-coverts are greenish black, tipped pale, the lesser series and point of the 
wing brown, edged with fulvous ; primaries white at the base and brown on the terminal portions, the white 
increasing from the first quill, which is almost entirely brown, to the innermost, the four inner feathers being only 
tipped with brown; secondaries with the outer webs and tips greenish brown, mingled with whitish. 
Obs. Owing to a mistake made by Gould in describing the Australian Jabiru, and Gray probably following him, the 
latter bird has been considered distinct from the Indian. Gould described the “lower part of the back” as being 
“rich glossy green,” whereas it is white, and exactly the same as in the Indian bird. I have been kindly favoured 
by the Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, in auswer to my queries on the subject, 
with a description of Gould’s bird, which is preserved in the Museum of that institution. It runs as follows : — 
“ The tail is dark green, but the whole of the baric ” (italics not mine), the rump, and tail-coverts are pure white ; 
the dark green scapulars lie across the back, and it at first looks as though the lower part of the back was really 
dark green.” It will be seen, therefore, that there is no difference between the two forms ; it is noteworthy, 
however, that the wing-dimension sent me from Philadelphia is inferior to that of Indian birds ; but this is, no 
doubt, an individual peculiarity. The American Jabirus (restricted Mycteria) have the head and neck bare. 
