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940. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 765 ; Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 24 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 435 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 277 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 136.

The Shell Ibis.
 

Length, 29 to 32 ; expanse, 50 to 54; wing, 16.5 to 17 ; tail, 7 ; tarsus, 5.5; bill at front, 6.25.

Bill dull greenish, tinged with reddish beneath ; nude orbits and gular skin blackish; irides grey or pale brown; legs pale fleshy.

General color of the plumage, pale ashy-grey, tinged with reddish on the head and neck ; the winglet, primaries, secondaries, tertials, scapulars, and tail, black.

The Shell Ibis occurs sparingly throughout the province; in most places it is only a cold weather visitant, but in Sind it breeds during August. The nests are platforms composed of twigs. The eggs, four or five in number, are of an oval shape, of a creamy-white color when fresh, but soon get stained as incubation proceeds.

They measure 2.24 by 1.6.

Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 765 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 630; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 158; Hume, Str. F. iii. p. 192 ; Hume, Str. F. viii. p. 114; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 1103 ; Oates, Str. F. x. p. 244; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 277. -
 

The Shell Ibis.

Young. - Plumage light grey, darker on the head and neck, the feathers on the latter hair-like ; upper back, scapulars, primaries and secondaries, also the winglet and tail black, with purple reflections; nude skin of the chin and front of the eyes greenish black ; in a later stage of plumage the head, sides of the face, nape and neck behind are dusky brown, the feathers short; neck in front, breast, lower parts, back, wing coverts and tail pure white, the primaries and secondaries also, their shafts black, also the shafts of the winglet; the first three primaries broadly margined with black on their outer and inner webs, their tips black; the inner webs of the primaries margined only to the notch; tertials white, also black-shafted ; the upper series slaty grey, with their webs lax and disunited. In the breeding plumage the bird is entirely white; bill greenish black ; nude orbitar and gular skin blackish; irides grey or pale brown; legs blackish.

Length. - 29 to 30 inches; wings 15 to 16; tail 7; bill at front 6.5 to 8; tarsus 5.25 to 5.5.

Hab. - Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Guzerat, and the Deccan ; abundant in Bengal and Central India, also Burmah and Ceylon; chiefly found in the vicinity of rivers, lakes and marshes; resident in Sind. Breeds from July to September in company with Threskiornis melanocephalus. Eggs, creamy white, from 2 to 2.52 inches in length and from 1.48 to 1.82 in breadth.

The Open-bill.

Ardea oscitans, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 55 (1783). Anastomus oscitans, Blyth, Cat. p. 276; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 244; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 765; Blyth, Ibis, 1807, p. 173; Hume, N. & E. p. 630 ; id. S. F. i, pp. 107, 133; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 435 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 158; Butler & Hume, S. F. iv, p. 25 ; Bingham, ibid. p. 211 ; Fairbanh, ibid. p. 264; Murray, S. F. vii, p. 110; Putter, ibid. pp. 188, 189 ; Ball & Hume, ibid. p. 231 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 310; Doig, ibid, p. 467 ; Hume, Cat. no. 940; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1103; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 435; Reid, S. F. x, p. 77; Davidson, ibid. p. 324; Davison, ibid. p. 417; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 266; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 389 ; Hume & Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 338; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 224; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 151; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 306.

The Shell-Ibis, Jerdon; Gungla, Ghongal, Ghonghila, H.; Dokar, H. (Behar) : Tonte-bhanga, Shamakh-bhanya, Samak-khol, Hammak-kas, Beng.; Pauna konga, Southern Gonds; Galu Konga, Tel.; Nattt kuti nareh, Tam.; Karunary, Tam. (Ceylon); Gombelle-koka, Cing.; Kha-ru-tsoke, Burm. (Arrakan).
 

Coloration. In breeding-plumage the longer scapulars, all the quills, the winglet, primary and greater secondary coverts, and the tail are black, glossed with dark green and purple ; remainder of plumage white.

At the moult after the breeding-season the white is replaced by smoky grey, darkest on the occiput and upper back. This becomes white by a change of colour in the feathers at the breeding-season. The black parts of the plumage undergo no change.

Young birds have the back and shorter scapulars brown, longer scapulars and tertiaries brownish ; otherwise they resemble adults in non-breeding plumage.

Bill dull greenish, tinged with reddish beneath ; nude orbits and gular skin blackish; irides grey or pale brown; legs pale fleshy (Jerdon).

Length 32; tail 7; wing 16.5 ; tarsus 5.5 ; bill from gape 6.

Distribution. Throughout the great plain of Northern India from Bengal to Sind; particularly common in Bengal, and in other well-watered tracts throughout India and Ceylon, but this bird is not common except about large rivers or marshes. It is also common in Assam and Manipur and is found in Arrakan, but is very rare in Pegu and unknown elsewhere in Burma. It occurs, however, in Cochin China.

Habits, &c. This curious Stork lives chiefly on freshwater mollusca, especially Ampullaria, and, it is said, Unto, and is stated by Jerdon, from his observations on captive and blinded birds, to cut off the operculum of the Ampullaria and extract the animal whole; but Bingham, who had good opportunities of watching the birds, both in the field and in confinement, found that they broke the Ampullariae before extracting the molluscs, and crushed smaller mollusca before swallowing them. They occasionally eat fish, crabs, &c, but subsist mainly on mollusca. Anastomus is often seen in flocks, frequenting marshes and paddy fields. It breeds on trees gregariously and lays from 2 to 5, generally 4, white eggs, measuring about 2.24 by 1.6. The breeding-season is July and August in Northern India, January to March in Ceylon.

The name Shell-Ibis being inapplicable to a bird that is a Stork and not an Ibis, I have adopted the term Open-bill proposed by Professor Newton. It is a translation of Button's Bee ouvert, the oldest name for this bird in a European language.

* As Legge has pointed out, signs of wear are confined to the lower mandible, the thick rhamphotheca of the upper mandible and the lamellae show no signs of attrition ; moreover the space does not exist near the gape, where the greatest crushing-power can be exerted.

The Open-bill Stork.

Male 29" to 32". Legs fleshy. Bill 6", green. Plumage ash-grey. Wing and tail black. Some nearly white, supposed to be adults. India, Ceylon, and east to Cochin China. Two to five eggs (2.24 x 1.6), white. (J. 940. B. 1553.)

Also A. lamelligerus. 28". General plumage black, with horny elongations to shafts of breast-feathers. From Africa and Madagascar.

The Open-bill.

Ardea oscitans Bodd., Tabl Pl.. Enlum., p. 55 (1783) (Pondicherry). Anastomus oscitans. Blanf. & Oates, iv, p. 277.

Vernacular names. Gunqla, Ghongal, Ghonghila (Hind.); Dokar (Behar) ; Tonte-bhanga, Shamaeh-banya, Samuk-khol, Hammak-kas (Bi-sng.); Poima konya (Southern G-onds); Galu-konga (Tel.); Nati-kuti nareh (Tam.): Karunary (Tam., Ceylon); Gombelle-koka (Cing.); Samuk-bhanga (Assam) ; Karu-tsoke (Burma).

Description. - Breeding plumage. Longest scapulars, primaries and secondaries, bastard wing, primary and secondary coverts and tail black, glossed with purple and dark green ; remainder of plumage white.

Colours of soft parts. Iris almost white, grey or pale brown; bill dull greenish-horny, redder beneath ; orbital skin and naked lores black; legs and feet dull fleshy.

Measurements. Wing 392 to 408 mm.; tail 183 to 217 mm. ; tarsus about 140 to 150 mm.; culmen 153 to 162 mm.

Distribution. The whole of India, Ceylon, Assam. Burma. Siam and Cochin China.

Nidification. The Open-bills seem everywhere to breed principally in July and August, except in Ceylon, where they lay during January, February and March, and in Southern Madras, where Packard took eggs early in December. They associate in colonies of some size, occasionally as large as 400 to 500 pairs, generally keeping aloof from other birds. Sometimes they breed with the Painted Stork and various Herons, but even then seldom build in the same trees with them. The nests are big affairs of sticks, often used for several years, when they become very large, and are placed on trees standing close to, or actually in, the water. One of the large colonies above referred to was in an Assamese village and nine out of ten of the nests were in palm-trees, The destruction during storms was very great but the birds continued to breed, making fresh nests and laying again. The eggs, three to five in number, are broad ovals but little com pressed towards the smaller end, Eighty eggs average 57.8 x 41.1 mm: maxima 64.0 X 40.6 and 52.4 x 43.4 mm.; minima 48.3 x 38.2 and 56.1 x 36.4 mm.

Habits. The Open-bill is perhaps the most common and widely distributed of all our Storks and there are few well-watered districts where it may not be found during the Rains, though it leaves many of the drier during the drought at the end of the Cold Weather. It feeds principally on mollusca, chiefly Ampularia, crushing the shell and then extracting the contents. Land-snails, crabs and the small mollusca it crushes first and then swallows, shell and all. It also eats worms, frogs, lizards, small snakes, insects and fish. The flight is very strong and the birds often spend hours flying high in the air, soaring over their breeding-grounds. They dance like all the Storks and make the same curious clapping noise with their bills whilst they also have a low grunt, which one can only hear when standing very close to them.

Ardea oscitans Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enlum., p. 55, 1783, for Pl. Enl. 932 : Pondicherry, India.

Ardea pondiceriana Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. i, pt. ii, p. 646, 1789 : Pondicherry. Ardea coromandeliana id., ibid., 1789: Coromandel.

Anastomus albus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. nouv, ed., vol. i, p, 489, 1816 : India.

Anastomus cinereus id., ibid., p. 490, 1816: India.

Anastomus typus Temm. & Laug., Planch. Color. d'Ois., livr. 40, pl. 236, 1823; new name only.

Hians indicus Lesson, Man. d'Orn., vol. ii, p. 251, 1828; new name only.

Hians asiaticus Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., vol. ii, p. 109, 1855 as of Lesson, error only in synonmy.