adjutant-bird

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The name given by English residents of Bengal to a very large species of stork, common in India, the Leptoptilus argala of some naturalists, belonging to the family Ciconiidæ. It is the Ardea dubia of Gmelin, the A. argala of Latham, the Ciconia marabou of Temminck, and the argala of the native Indians. Great confusion has been occasioned by the transference by Temminck of the native name, argala, to a related but distinct African species. The name marabou has likewise been given to both species, since both furnish the ornamental plumes so named in commerce. The African species should be distinguished as the marabou, the Indian species being left to bear its native name argala. The name adjutant, or adjutant-bird, is a nickname bestowed upon the bird from some fancied likeness of its bearing to the stiff martinet air of the military functionary known as an adjutant. The bird is a gigantic stork, 5 or often 6 feet high, and its expanded wings measure 14 feet from tip to tip. It has an enormous bill, nearly bare head and neck, and a sausage-like pouch hanging from the under part of the neck. It is one of the most voracious carnivorous birds known, and in India, from its devouring all sorts of carrion and noxious animals, is protected by law. Also called adjutant-crane, adjutant-stork, and pouched stork. The name is sometimes extended to a related species, L. javanicus, known as the lesser adjutant or adjutant-bird.