BLACK STORK. 497 



Russia and Siberia, as far as the Lena, where hakes and mo- 

 rasses abound. The Black Stork seldom comes so far to the 

 westward as its generic companion, the White Stork, as it is 

 almost unknown in Holland, and, according to M. Vieillot, 

 very rare in France, though not uncommon in Switzerland 

 and some parts of Germany, and said to be abundant in 

 Hungary and Poland. M. Polydore Roux considers it a 

 bird of Provence ; it is found in the salt marshes of Italy ; 

 inhabits Turkey ; and the Russian naturalists enumerate it 

 in their cataloo-ue of the birds found in the countries between 

 the Black and the Caspian Seas. It probably inhabits, dur- 

 ing the winter, a great part of Northern Africa, since Dr. 

 Heineken included it among the birds of Madeira, and its 

 southward range is extensive, Dr. Andrew Smitli having 

 brought specimens with liim from the Cape of Good Hope. 



The character of the Black Stork, as observed by Mr. 

 E. T. Bennett, and others, is in one respect diametrically 

 opposed to that of the White Stork. Instead of domesti- 

 cating itself, as it Avere, with man, it shuns his society, and 

 makes its temporary dwelling in the most secluded spots, fre- 

 quenting impenetrable morasses, or the banks of sucli rivers 

 and lakes as are seldom disturbed by the presence of in- 

 truders, and building its nest on the summits of the loftiest 

 pines. It lays two or three eggs, of a bufFy white colom-, 

 about two inches seven lines long, by one inch and eleven lines 

 in breadth. 



A very fine specimen of the Black Stork has lived in the 

 menagerie of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park for 

 the last ten or twelve years ; it seems perfectly quiet, never 

 using its powerful beak as a weapon of offence against its 

 fellow-prisoners, and makes no noise except the clattering 

 sound which it produces by the snapping of its mandibles. 

 Whether the bird, or the various authors, is the party honour- 

 ed, I need not undertake to determine, but this Black Stork 



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