THE STORKS. t)9 



tection it everywhere receives, is much more abundant in 

 Marocco than in Andalucia, although plentiful in some level 

 districts in the latter country, being most common in the 

 marismas and the vicinity of Seville, nesting on some of the 

 churches in that city. On the African side of the Straits, in 

 many situations they breed on trees, generally in colonies, as 

 well as on houses, but usually near villages ; and almost every 

 Moorish hovel has a Stork's nest on the top, a pile of sticks, 

 lined with grass and palmetto-fibre. It usually contains four 

 white eggs, which are very rarely marked with pink blotches. 

 These are sometimes laid as early as the 25th of March, and 

 are very good eating, either hot or cold. When boiled hard, 

 they have the white clear, as with Peewits' or Plovers' eggs, 

 the yolk being of a very rich reddish-yellow. 



" The White Stork is rather irregular as to the time of nesting, 

 for we found in Marocco on the same day (the 25th of April) 

 young birds, e.irgs, and unfinished nests; and, to show how 

 varied is the time of migration, we saw on that day a flight 

 of about a hundred flying northward at an immense height. 

 As they passed over the '• storkery, " which was in a large grove 

 of high trees, they lowered themselves to within a hundred 

 yards or so of the nests, and after wheeling round for a few 

 minutes, as if to see how affairs were going on, they worked 

 up in a gyrating flight to their original elevation, and continued 

 their northerly journey, doubtless to the great delight of the 

 resident Storks, who were in a great state of perturbation and 

 disturbance at the appearance of their brethren. I may here 

 remark that Storks usually migrate in large flocks at a great 

 height, with a gyrating flight. The earliest date of their arrival 

 that I noticed near Gibraltar was on the nth of January, and 

 they nearly all leave by the end of September. They are most 

 useful birds, feeding on insects of all kinds, mice, snakes, and 

 other reptiles, and certainly deserve all the protection and 

 encouragement which they receive in Marocco, where they are, 

 in consequence, excessively tame. Their grotesque actions 

 when nesting, and their habit of continually clacking their bills 

 together, making a noise like a rattle, render them very amus- 

 ing to watch." (Orn. Gibr. 2nd ed. p. 209.) It appears that the 

 Storks have no note beyond the clacking noise made by their 

 bill. 



H 3 



