STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



The black stork has not the same habits as the white stork. It avoids 

 houses and villages and the dwellings of man, and chooses the most solitary- 

 spots in which to make its nest. 



The banks of rivers and lakes, or even the top of a tall pine-tree, are 

 among the spots chosen by this unsociable bird. Here the mother stork lays 

 two eggs of a buffy white colour. 



The black stork is more delicate in its choice of food than the white one. 

 It is especially fond of eels, and takes them in a very clever manner. No 

 spear used for taking eels can be more effectual than the stork's open bill, 

 that spears them in a minute. But the stork does not swallow the eel all at 

 once. It retires to the margin of the pool, and shakes its prey with its bill 

 before it eats it. 



It never swims, but wades into the water up to the body, and will some- 

 times thrust its head and neck under water after a fish. It has no note of 

 any kind. 



The black stork passes the winter in the south of Europe. It is 

 unknown in Holland, where the white stork is so familiar ; but is found in 

 Russia and Siberia, where lakes and morasses abound ; and occasionally it 

 visits Sweden. 



During the whole time of rearing their young the parent storks never 

 lose sight of them. If the mother bird is out on an excursion, to look for 

 serpents and lizards, her partner stays at home to take care of the family. 

 And when the little stork is making its first attempt to fly, the parents keep 

 on either side, and support it in the air. 



There have been many pretty stories told about the young storks' behaviour 

 to their parents when the old birds are weak and infirm. And it is a fact, 

 that the young birds do succour the old ones, but whether these are their 

 own parents remains to be proved. 



At any rate, the old birds and the young live happily together until the 

 time comes for their winter's tour. Then, a week or two before the event 

 takes place, the storks hold a council in some field or common to discuss the 

 matter, as we see the swallows do with us. 



At length, however, the day arrives, and great flocks of storks are seen in 

 the air flying in their peculiar manner with outstretched legs. Sometimes a 

 flock is half a mile broad, and takes three hours in passing. They have no 

 voice, so that the only noise they make is with their wings ; and if anything 



