File:Birds (1889) (20530894130).jpg

Title: Birds
Identifier: cu31924000100358 (find matches)
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Oates, Eugene William, 1845-1911; Blandford, William Thomas, 1832-1905
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: London, Taylor and Francis
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image:
378 ciooNiiD^. Coloration. In breeding-plumage the longer scapulars, all th quills, the winglet, primary and greater secondary coverts, ane- the tail are black, glossed with dark green and purple; remainder of plumage white.
Text Appearing After Image:
Kg. 90.—Head of A. osciiam. 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 undergo2(no change. Toung 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, 6fc. This curious Stork lives chiefly on freshwater moUusca, especially AmpvMaria, and, it is said, Unio, and is stated by Jerdon, from his observations on captive and blinded birds, to cut ofi the operculum of the Ampullaria and extract the animal whole; but Bingham, who had good opportunities of w atching the birds, both in the field and in confinement, found that they broke the AmpuUarice before extracting the molluscs, and crushed smaller moUusca before swallowing them. They occasionally eat fish, crabs, &c., but subsist mainly on molluscah, Anastomtis 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 Buffon's Bee ouvert, the oldest name for this bird in a European language.

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