THE STORK TRIBE 2073 



Central Asia and a great part of India, while in the winter the bird visits Northern 

 Africa in large numbers. In France, where it is much persecuted, it is now only a 

 passing visitor; but it breeds in large numbers in Holland, Germany, and indeed 

 over the greater part of Central and Eastern Europe, where it enjoys protection on 

 the part of the inhabitants. The stork has become thoroughly habituated to human 

 habitations and the presence of man, by whom it is esteemed, not only on account of 

 its value as a scavenger, but likewise from its well-known fidelity to its young, which 

 has become proverbial. In Palestine, where they only exceptionally breed, storks 

 make their appearance at the latter part of March on their northern journey, while 

 in Holland and Denmark they generally arrive about the middle of April. They 

 arrive and depart (as shown in the illustration on p. 2053) in immense flocks and 

 on their arrival spread themselves over the country in search of food, which 

 comprises small mammals and birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, etc. In most parts of 

 Europe the stork generally builds on chimneys, where boxes or other receptacles 

 for the nest are frequently placed for its accommodation; and as it returns year 

 after year to the same spot, the nest, which is originally a shallow structure of 

 sticks, gradually attains a height of several feet. In the absence of buildings, 

 trees or rocks are, however, adopted for nesting. The eggs, usually from three to 

 five in number, are pure white. During the breeding season the birds keep up a 

 constant clapping noise with their beaks, and this noise not unfrequently betrays 

 their whereabouts when soaring at such a height as to be quite invisible to the 

 naked eye. As an instance of the constancy displayed by the males and females of 

 this species it is stated that for three years a female, which remained during the 

 winter in Europe, was visited annually by her mate, when both nested as usual. In 

 the fourth year, however, the male bird also remained with his partner during 

 the winter, and this continued for three years.* Eventually both birds were shot, 

 when it was discovered that the female had been prevented from migrating by an 

 old wound. On the other hand, there are well-authenticated instances of tame 

 storks having been mobbed and killed by their fellows, and the same fate is stated 

 to have overtaken a female stork whose eggs had been replaced by those of a hen, 

 which in due course were hatched into chickens. 



The second European representative of the genus is the black stork 

 (C nigra), which is likewise an occasional visitant to England. In 

 this bird the plumage of the head, neck, and upper parts is brownish black, with a 

 variable metallic lustre; the under parts, from the lower breast, being white, and 

 the wings and tail lacking the lustre of the contour feathers. The iris is reddish 

 brown, the beak blood red, and the leg and foot carmine. The black stork, which 

 is a rather smaller bird than its white cousin, inhabits Central and Southern Europe, 

 occasionally ranging northward, and is found all over Africa, while eastward it 

 extends to China, and, in winter, India. Unlike the white species, it shuns human 

 habitations as widely as possible, frequenting the most secluded swamps on the banks 

 of lakes and rivers, and nesting in tall forest trees. In Jutland Mr. Elwes describes 

 the nests as being lined with moss, and having a diameter of some four feet; the 

 four grayish-white eggs being deposited in a shallow cavity in the centre. Writing 

 of the habits of a captive individual of this species, Montagu observes that ' ' the 



