STORKS. 169 



having passed the winter in the south, and the farmer and his children greet them joy. 

 fully, as if they were mernhers of the family. The stoi-ks, wlien migrating, travel in 

 large flocks. Canon Tristram thus describes his experience in Palestine, in 1881, with 

 the migrating storks : " The stork kept its appointed time, and stalked solemnly over 

 the plains from the 10th April. I never saw one after the 22d Api-il. Up to that 

 date there was a con.';tant succession of arrivals from the south and departures for the 

 north. The most wonderful flight of storks was one which passed over us in the plain 

 of the upper Jordan on 19th April, steering due noi-th, in the long V-like wedges with 

 which we are so familiar in the flight of wild geese. Party after jiarty ])assed, per- 

 petually changing their leader, and the hindmost of the longest limb frequently cross- 

 ing over to take the rear of the other linili ; but never, countless though their uutu- 

 bei"s were, did they fly in a mass, or in any other order than that of the wedge." 



There remains still to be mentioned two genera of storks in which the structure of 

 the tail is curiously modified. The genus Dissoura, with the plumage of the head 

 and neck downy, size small, and with metallic reflections above, inhabits India and 

 Africa, while l-Jiixemira is South American. The latter is as large as the European 

 stork, and similarly colored, but with the bill black. Both agree, however, in having 

 the tail proi)er strongly bifurcated, the outer tail-feathers being much larger than the 

 middle ])air. This character alone would make these birds unique within their order, 

 but the tail is still more strangely constructed, for the lower i-;il-coverts are stiff and 

 longer than the tail-feathers themselves ! To a superficial observer it appears as if 

 the tail is white, slightly rounded, and protected at the base by some stiffened black 

 vjiper coverts, arranged in an abnormal manner, while the fact is that the tail is black, 

 and bifurcate, with white long under tail-coverts! Thus a well-known author in 1877, 

 while monographing the order, in the species diagnosis, speaks of the upper tail-covei-ts 

 being bifurcate and raven-black ! The mistake is easily discovered by a close inspec- 

 tion, for the black feathers have the groove on the under side of the shaft, while the 

 white ones are grooved on the side turned up. Jlr. Uobert Ridgway, in establishing 

 the genus liliixenura, seems to have been the first to understand, and clearly describe, 

 the true nature of these feathers in the American species. 



The maguari stork {Euxenura maguari), tlie only known species, is confined to 

 South America. Mr. Gibson says that it is very common in Buenos Ayres, and not 

 entirely confined to the swamps, but is also found on the plains, " at offal, or stalkiu'j; 

 about in search of snakes, frogs, lizards, rats and mice, locusts, and birds' eggs, — any- 

 thing and everything, in short." Of a tame maguari, which was called 'Byles, the 

 lawyer,' he relates that it seized snakes by the nape of the neck, and passed them 

 transversely through its bill by a succession of rapid and powerful nips, repeating tlie 

 o]ieration two or three times before being satisfied that life was totally e.\tinct. 

 " Byles inspired a wholesome respect in all the dogs and cats, but was very peacealile 

 as a rule. One of our men ha<l played some trick on him, however; and the I'csult 

 was that Byles incontinently ' went for him ' on every possible occasion, his long legs 

 covering the ground like those of an ostrich, while he jiroduced a demoniacal row with 

 his bill. It was amusing to see his victim dodging him all over the place, or some- 

 times, m desperation, turning on him with a stick; but Byles evaded every blow by 

 jumping eight feet into the air, coming down on the other side of his enemy, and 

 there repeating his war-dance; while he alw.ays threatened (though these threats were 

 never fulfilled) to make personal and ])ointed remarks with his formidable bill." 



In order that the reader may be enabled to distinctly understand the intermediate 



