230 Storks & Cranes 



three or four days after their arrival they cannot even 

 stand up on their wobbling legs, and when they do 

 at last manage it, they rock about and stagger in the 

 weakest way. 



Voracious things they are too at that age, and 

 gollop down raw liver to any extent, making a curious 

 rasping, wheezing noise as they do so. 



I always put them on the open lawn so that they 

 may become used to the look of the place before they 

 can fly. 



In a short time they begin to gain strength. 



At this age the feet are light reddish, but the legs 

 are dull brown, and do not become red until the later 

 portion of the summer. 



The bills, too, instead of being red, are almost 

 black, except for a promise of the future colour at the 

 base. And so my young storks march solemnly about, 

 bending down their bodies when they are hungry, and 

 flapping their weak wings up and down. 



When there are one or two adult birds amongst 

 them, the babies run after them persistently, in the 

 hopes of receiving a frog or a locust. How should 

 they know that these are not their parents, and that 

 they have left them across the sea ? 



Then comes a day when they begin to exercise 

 their wings a great deal ; hopping along on both 

 feet, flapping and pirouetting. 



And then — at last they find the use of them. 

 Away goes the biggest and the strongest, as yet 

 unversed in the art of steering. 



He takes a low flight out into the park ; and, 



