Borassus flabellifer
The Tamil Sangam literature mentions a bird called the "anril" which was described as having a curved bill and calling from atop palmyra palms ("Borassus flabellifer"). Madhaviah Krishnan identified the bird positively as the black ibis and ruled out contemporary suggestions that this was a sarus crane. He based his identification on a line that mentions the arrival of at dusk and calling from atop palmyra palms. He also pointed out ibises to locals and asked them for the name and noted that a few did refer to it as . Sangam poetry also mentions that the birds mated for life and always walked about in pairs, one of the leading reasons for others to assume that this was the sarus crane, a species that is not found in southern India.