Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.93

c10.93

**ADJUTANT**, *s.* A bird so called (no doubt) from its comical resemblance to a human figure in a stiff dress pacing slowly on a parade-ground. It is the *H. hargīlā*, or gigantic crane, and popular scavenger of Bengal, the *Leptoptilus argala* of Linnæus. The *H.* name is by some dictionaries derived from a supposed Skt. word *hadda-gila*, 'bone-swallower.' The compound, however appropriate, is not to be found in Böhtlingk and Roth's great Dictionary. The bird is very well described by Aelian, under the name of Kήλα, which is perhaps a relic of the still preserved vernacular one. It is described by another name, as one of the peculiarities of India, by Sultan Baber. See PELICAN.