Part 61

"Adult male.--Entirely white with a small but full nuchal crest; bare forehead black, the black skin extending just behind the eye and occupying the sides of the face, fore parts of cheeks, and upper throat, on which the white feathers impinge in a triangular form in the center; a yellow spot in front of the eye. 'Bill slate-color, transversely barred with black, the bars broken and disconnected on the spatule; apical edge black, succeeded by a patch and scattered spots of orange-ocher over the spatule, which is also freckled with light slate-color; inside of mouth deep indigo-black; inside of nostrils ocherous; bare skin of face black, with a bright yellow-ocher patch before eye, extending over under lid, and a thin line over upper lid; legs purplish black; iris blood-red.' (Swinhoe.) Length, 685; culmen, 183; wing, 371; tail, 107; tarsus, 121.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male. 'Bill flesh-color, longitudinally streaked and speckled with blackish, mottled and freckled with slate-color, chiefly about the spatule; bare skin of face dull purplish brown; feet purplish black; iris yellowish brown.' (Swinhoe.) Length, 660; culmen, 185; wing, 356; tail, 102; tarsus, 119.

"Young.--Differs from the adults in having a more yellowish bill, and blackish shaft-stripes to the quills; outer primaries blackish at ends of outer webs." (Sharpe.)

Mr. Charles S. Banks of the Bureau of Science brought the head of a spoonbill from Dagupan, Luzon, where he found this species not uncommon in November, 1907. While I have referred this specimen to Platalea minor its specific identity is uncertain.

Suborder CICONIÆ.

Family CICONIIDÆ.

Bill long, stout, compressed, and tapering, tip pointed; culmen straight except at the tip; nostril pervious in a slit; wing large; secondaries longer than primaries; tail short; tarsus about as long as culmen and covered with small hexagonal scales; hind toe about half the length of inner toe; nails short and blunt.

Subfamily CICONIINÆ.

Genus DISSÖURA Cabanis, 1850.

Character same as those given for the Family.

133. DISSÖURA EPISCOPUS (Boddaert).

WHITE-NECKED STORK.

Ardea episcopus Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. (1783), 54. Dissura episcopus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 294; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 370, fig. 87. Dissöura episcopus Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 190; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 105; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 31.

Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (Steere); Calayan (McGregor); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Heriot, Whitehead); Marinduque (Worcester); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Celestino, Goodfellow); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Steere, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Whitehead). Tropical Africa, Indian and Malay Peninsulas, Indo-Malay Islands, Indo-Chinese countries, Celebes, Ceylon.

"Adult male.--Above black, glossed with metallic green and purple, more especially on hind neck; entire back and upper tail-coverts glossed with metallic green; tail-feathers black, not to be confounded with the under tail-coverts, which are white; the outer retrices black, graduated, and forming a fork; wing-coverts like the back, but more distinctly glossed, especially on the lesser series, which are metallic purplish red; quills black, glossed with slaty externally and with metallic green on the inner face of all the quills, crown of head blue-black as far as occiput; nape and entire neck white as well as the throat; chin less thickly clothed with feathers; breast black, slightly glossed with metallic green, but more strongly with reddish purple, especially on the fore neck and chest; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the long ones stiffened and resembling tail-feathers; axillars and under wing-coverts black with a gloss of metallic green. 'Bill in general black, tinged with red on culmen, tips, and margins; legs and toes red; claws reddish horn-color; iris crimson; eyelids and facial skin plumbeous.' (Oates.) Length, about 915; culmen, 914; wing, 508; tail, 183; tarsus, 179.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male. 'Iris very pale, almost whitish hue.' (H. J. Rainey.) Length, 914; culmen, 145; wing, 470; tail, 183; tarsus, 157.

"Young birds differ from the adults in being much browner and not having so much gloss, the black feathers on the head being replaced by bronzy brown, the purplish gloss on the wing-coverts almost absent, and the purple gloss on the breast being replaced by dull bronzy brown. The forehead generally shows a basal line of white feathers, but these are also apparent in some of the old birds, and are apparently shed by them in course of time." (Sharpe.)

Specimens obtained in Mindoro have an unfeathered band along the under side of the forearm. The skin of this space is dark crimson.

"Rather rare and very shy. Usually seen soaring at great heights. Occasionally met with perching on dead trees, or wading about the rice-fields." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Suborder ARDEÆ.

Family ARDEIDÆ.

Bill generally slender, straight, and compressed; culmen slightly curved near its tip; tarsus covered with transverse plates or large hexagonal scales; toes long; claws well developed, usually sharp and curved; hind toe well developed, its claw larger than claw of middle toe, the latter pectinate.

Genera.

a1. Rectrices twelve.

b1. Bare portion of tibio-tarsus equal to or exceeding the inner toe with claw.

c1. Middle toe with claw as long as tarsus or longer; claw of hind toe more than half the length of hind toe itself and but slightly curved; plumage variegated, never white. ... Pyrrherodia (p. 162) c2. Middle toe with claw shorter than tarsus; claw of hind toe curved; plumage nearly uniform slate-gray or largely white.

d1. Edge of mandibles distinctly serrated, a faintly indicated notch near tip of upper mandible.

e1. Head crested, nape feathers elongated and ornamented; plumage of fore neck long but not disintegrated; no dorsal train; plumage uniform gray, or else, neck mostly white and crest black. ... Ardea (p. 163) e2. Head crested, without ornamental plumes; fore neck with disintegrated plumes; an immense dorsal train; plumage white. ... Mesophoyx (p. 165)