224 ciconiidj:. 



for themselves. The old birds feed the young by inserting 

 their own beak within the mandibles of the j'oung bird, and 

 passing from their own stomachs the half-digested remains 

 of their last meal. Their affection for their young has 

 passed into a proverb, and every one must be acquainted 

 with the legend of the female which, at the conflagration 

 of Delft, after repeated and unsuccessful attempts to carry 

 off her young, chose rather to remain and perish with them 

 in the general ruin than to leave them to their fate. 



The White Stork feeds on reptiles, fish, aquatic insects, 

 Avorms, small mammals, and young birds. Col. E. Delme 

 Radclilfe told the Editor that on one occasion he shot a 

 Stork which was busily occupied with a brood of young 

 Partridges, eight of which had already been swallowed. 

 Grasshoppers are a favourite food, and on the 15th of May, 

 1868, the Editor observed thousands of Storks whitening 

 acres of ground on the plains of Andalucia, and feeding with 

 their heads down, just like sheep. Nine-tenths of these 

 birds could not possibly have been breeding in the province. 

 During the breeding-season Storks keep up a constant clap- 

 pering with their bills, and this sound may frequently be 

 heard proceeding from a number of birds circling in the air 

 at such a height as to be almost invisible. 



The adult bird has the beak red ; the bare skin around 

 the eye black ; the irides brown ; the whole of the plumage 

 white, except the greater wing-coverts, the primary quill- 

 feathers, secondaries, and tertials, which are black ; legs 

 and toes red ; the claws brown. 



The whole length is three feet six or eight inches. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the primaries, twenty-three 

 inches. 



Young birds have the quill-feathers dull black ; the beak 

 and legs brownish-red. The nestling is covered with a 

 greyish-white down, and is well figured in the * Birds of 

 Great Britain ' by the lute Mr. Gould, who states that he 

 procured it from Prof. Kaup of Darmstadt, after endeavour- 

 ing in vain to obtain a specimen from any of his numerous 

 German and Dutch correspondents. 



