STORKS 229 



An adjutant attempting to rise from the ground, 

 or merely flapping heavily between two neighbour- 

 ing perches, would hardly suggest the possibility 

 of its being of the same race as the birds that 

 sweep about in the upper sky on widely spread 

 and seemingly motionless wings, looking more like 

 mediaeval dragons or the inhabitants of a fairy tale 

 than creatures of this workaday world. It is quite 

 piteous to see one of them attempting to rise from 

 the ground, more especially if he has recently 

 partaken of a full meal. If suddenly disturbed 

 during the course of meditative digestion, he will 

 at first stalk off with a curiously mingled air of 

 dignity, meanness, apprehension, and malevolence ; 

 and then, if followed up, will hasten his retreat, until 

 his stately pacing degenerates into an ignominious 

 run attended by laboured movements of his huge, 

 flapping wings, and he has acquired enough 

 momentum to venture on leaping from the ground. 

 Even then false starts are apt to take place, and 

 it is often only after several disgraceful and abortive 

 attempts that he gets fairly off and can cease 

 winnowing the air with his great sails. These 

 struggling flights are often very noisy, as is not 

 surprising from the great size of the wings, and the 

 rigidly resistant texture of the larger feathers, but 

 it is curious what differences there are in the flight 

 of individual birds, even when exposed to seemingly 

 like external conditions. In bygone years a large 



