Birds of Southern Spain. 393 



moment, put the matter beyond doubt. They were feeding on 

 the grasshoppers with which the plain was alive ; and some 

 score of Black Kites were enjoying the same food on the skirts 

 of the flock. Nine-tenths of these birds could not possibly 

 have been breeding, at least not in all Andalucia, yet I ob- 

 served no signs of immaturity in their plumage. There is also 

 a superstition amongst the lower classes, that a Stork^s egg, 

 given to an habitual drunkard (a rare thing in Spain), will 

 reform him ; and to this I owe a pair now in my collection, 

 though I beg to say the eggs were not taken for my especial 

 benefit, Manuel was accosted one morning by an old woman, 

 who, with tears, implored him to get her a Stork's egg for her 

 son, who was accustomed to get drunk and disorderly, offering 

 him the enormous price of Rs.lO, or 2s. of our money. 

 Manuel proceeded to visit an accessible nest he knew of; but it 

 only contained one egg; so, judging that there might be another 

 dipsomaniac in Seville to whom an egg would be beneficial, he 

 decided to wait a day or two for a second, orders at two- shil- 

 lings a piece being uncommon. But on his repairing to the 

 old lady, she screamed out, " Oh ! why did you not come yes- 

 terday, for last night my son got drunk and quarrelsome and 

 stabbed a man, and they've taken him to prison. Ay de mi \" 

 So eventually the Stork's egg passed into my possession ; but I 

 did not think it necessary to swallow the contents. During 

 the breeding-season, these birds keep up a constant chattering 

 with their bills, a noise which, when heard proceeding from a 

 flock on the wing, is sometimes very puzzling to a stranger. 



255. CicoNiA NIGRA. " Cigucna nigra." 



I did not meet with this species in Andalucia ; but specimens 

 are in several museums. Near the Montes de Toledo I knew 

 of two nests this year, both in holes of rocks, and saw the birds 

 belonging to one of them, which it would have taken more time 

 and trouble to rob than the contents were worth. 



256. CiCONIA ABDIMI. 



I insert this bird, new to the European list, on the authority 

 of Don Victor Lopez Seoane, who mentions its capture near 

 Granada on the 18th June, 1858. In this I depart from my 



