180 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



reflections of bronze, purple and green, becoming darker on the mantle ; 

 underparts below the upper-breast pure white ; the bare space near the eye 

 and on the chin reddish. 



Iris hazel ; bill and feet reddish-brown. 



Total length 40 inches, wing 21'50, culmen 7, tarsus 7'50. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



The young bird has a duller plumage generally and its soft parts are also 

 duller in colour. 



Although ifar from common, the Black Stork occurs in Tunisia 

 regularly on passage, and I have examples of it obtained in the north 

 of the Regency. It appears to be seen more frequently in spring than 

 in autumn, though it is to be found in certain numbers also during 

 the latter season. There seems to be no recorded instance of the 

 species breeding in Tunisia, or anywhere in North-west Africa, indeed, 

 from Algeria it is not recorded at all, although it no doubt occurs 

 there, as it does in Marocco, and even, it is said, in Madeira. 



The chief breeding-haunts of the Black Stork are in Central and 

 South-eastern Europe, in Palestine, and further east in China. 



In winter the species ranges right down Africa to Cape Colony. 



In its habits the present species differs considerably from the 

 White Stork, and far from affecting the neighbourhood of human 

 dwellings, gives them a wide berth, frequenting more particularly 

 the open country and secluded localities far removed from towns or 

 villages. It is in fact a shy unsociable bird, and more or less solitary 

 in its habits, but when on passage, contrary to some statements, it 

 may be found in flocks composed of several individuals. Such flocks 

 are occasionally to be seen in Sicily in autumn, and my collection 

 contains an example which was netted on some open moorland 

 situated at some distance from the town of Marsala, which, according 

 to my informant, was annually and regularly visited in autumn by 

 a large flock of these birds. In its flight, food, and peculiar habit 

 of clattering its bill the present species resembles the White Stork. 

 In the choice of its nesting quarters it shows a preference for marshy 

 woods, where it builds in trees, though in some countries it makes 

 use of cliffs for the purpose. 



