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STORK.— Cicdiiia alha. 



naked skin on tlic tliroat is yellow, the eyes are red, the legs and feet black, and the bill 

 yellow at the expanded portion, and black for the remainder of its lenj^th. The total 

 length of the male bird is about thirty-two inches, but the female is not t^uite so large, and 

 her crest is smaller than that of the other sex. There are six or seven known species of 

 these curious birds. 



The Stoek is another of the birds ^\•llich, in the olden days, were tolerably frequent 

 visitors to the British Islands, but which now seldom make their appearance in such 

 inhospitable regions, where food is scarce and guns are many. 



It is sufficiently common in many parts of Europe, whither it migrates yearly from its 

 winter quarters in Africa, makes its nest and rears its young. In most countries it is 

 rigidly protected by common consent ; partly on account of the service which it renders 

 in the destruction of noisome reptiles and unpleasant offal, and partly because it is 

 surrounded with a kind of halo of romantic traditions handed down from time immemorial 

 to successive generations. 



The Stork is not slow in taking advantage of its position, and attaches itself to man 

 and his habitations, building its huge nest on the top of his house, and walking about iu 



