THE AUSTRALIAN MYCTERIA. 
Mycteria australis. 
Plate XLYII. 
The Storks of the genus Mycteria, or “ Jabirus,” as they are sometimes called, although this name is more 
strictly applicable to the single American species, are few in number, but widely distributed over the 
earth’s surface. The hue species which forms the subject of the present illustration is commonly supposed 
to be found throughout the eastern portion of Southern Asia, and to extend into Australia, being included 
by Mr. Gould in his great work on the birds of the latter country. There is some doubt, however, as 
to whether the Indian and Australian Jabirus are quite identical, and it is, therefore, proper to state that 
the example living in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in 1854, and figured in two attitudes in the 
accompanying plate, is believed to have been procured in Malacca. It lived some months in the Society’s 
Menagerie, and since its death has unfortunately not been replaced by others. 
The South American Jabiru [M. americana), of which the Society have also formerly possessed specimens, 
is of still greater stature than the present species, standing nearly five feet in height, whereas the Australian 
Jabiru does not much exceed four feet from the ground. 
The third bird usually arranged along with the Mycterice, the M. senegalensis or “ Saddle-billed Stork,” 
as it is often called, of the interior of Africa, is perhaps of more striking appearance than either of the 
foregoing species — its parti-coloured bill and legs imparting to it a very singular aspect. Mr. John Petherick, 
H.B.M.’s Consul at Chartoum, who brought the Balceniceps living to England, obtained several of these latter- 
birds from the Upper Nile, and despatched them to this country, but they all unfortunately sank beneath the 
hardships of the ten months’ journey from the centre of Africa. 
