146 



BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



FIG. 249. 



Aja'ja ajaja. lloseate Spoonbill. 



FIG. 250. 



The Roseate Spoonbill of the South, nearly extinct, is 



the only representative of 

 this family in the United 

 States. It breeds the sec- 

 ond year, but does not 

 attain its perfect plum- 

 age until the fourth or 

 fifth. It is then a beauti- 

 ful rose color, with car- 

 mine wing and tail-cov- 

 erts, head naked with 



golden-yellow skin shading into glossy black around the 



top of the neck, and with patches of rich buff on each 



side of the breast and 



upper part of the tail. 

 The White Stork of 



Europe is exceedingly 



useful, feeding upon 



garbage and noxious 



creatures. It is easily 



tamed, and its sagacity 



is marvelous.* The 



regularity of its migra- 

 tions has made it the 



subject of comment in 



all history, both sacred 



and profane. Cico'ma al'ba. White Stork. 



* A tame Stork has been known to join children playing hide-ahd-seek, run 

 when touched and to distinguish the child whose turn it was to pursue the rest 

 so well as to be on its guard along with the others. The Germans and Dutch 

 esteem it a good omen when a Stork builds its coarse nest of sticks on their 

 house-top. Innumerable stories are current among different nations, ascribing 

 to the Stork gratitude, chastity, parental affection, conjugal fidelity, and filial 

 piety. In the Tyrol, for example, a male Stork refused to migrate, and .passed 

 several winters with his mate, who, being wounded, could not fly. 



