378 BLACK STORK. 



and is even said to visit Madeira. Eastward, it breeds in Palestine, 

 and can be traced — through Persia, 'i'urkestan, Siberia up to 55° N. 

 lat., and MongoHa — to China, where it nests on chffs in the moun- 

 tains near Pekin ; while it winters as far south as Central India. It 

 is found throughout Northern Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, 

 Nubia, and Abyssinia ; and appears to be generally distributed in 

 cold weather down to Cape Colony. 



Unlike the White Stork, which frequents the society of man, the 

 Black Stork has its breeding-haunts in the most secluded spots, and 

 generally in marshy woods, where it builds its nest in high trees. 

 Mr. H. J. Elwes describes one in Jutland as a large and heavy 

 mass of sticks, lined with tufts of green moss, and situated about 

 thirty-five feet from the ground, in a good-sized beech ; another 

 was on an 'old nest of the White-tailed Eagle in a smaller tree, 

 overlooking a wide swampy valley in the forest ; and Mr. Seebohm 

 found similar structures in oaks and firs. In Spain, Bulgaria and 

 Turkey clefts and ledges of cliffs are also used. The eggs, 4-5 in 

 number, are coarse in texture and of a dull greyish-white colour, while 

 when the shell is held up to the light the lining membrane shows 

 green, whereas it is yellowish in the egg of the White Stork ; the 

 average dimensions also are smaller, being about 2-6 by 2 in. The 

 male stands by the female whilst she is sitting, and little fear of 

 intruders is shown. Incubation commences in the latter half of 

 April, and, as a rule, the Black Stork arrives at its northern breed- 

 ing-stations rather earlier than its congener ; while it leaves later in 

 the autumn, and has once been obtained in Sweden in winter. Its 

 food consists chiefly of fish ; but frogs, reptiles, small mammals, and 

 aquatic insects are also eaten. The young birds utter a peculiar 

 guttural note ; the adults, however, merely making a clattering 

 noise with their bills. The illustration was taken from a specimen 

 which lived in the gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's 

 Park for about thirty years. 



The adult has the head, neck and upper plumage glossy-black 

 with blue, purple, copper-coloured, and green reflections ; under 

 parts below the neck white; bill, neck, skin round the eye, legs 

 and feet scarlet. Length 40 in. ; wing 21 in. The sexes are alike 

 in plumage. In the young bird the upper feathers are dull metallic- 

 brown, margined with dirty-white ; and the bill and legs are olive- 

 green, afterwards turning to orange-red. 



The Storks have no powder-down tracts, neither have the Ibises 

 or Spoonbills any. 



