ARDEID.E. 



458 



outside the nest, are considered by the peasants to be 

 t(^kens of its gratitude. The female lays from fuur to five 

 ()val-sha})ed eggs, of a dirty white colour; they are two 

 inches and seven- eighths in length, by two inches in their 

 transverse diameter. 



When the winter sets in, the morasses and swamps are 

 frozen, and food is scarcely to be found ; the Storks then 

 assemble in multitudes, and prepare for their southern 

 journey, which, like that of other birds of passage, is 

 probably begun in the night. 



STORK S NEST. 



X ;3 



