Birds of Farm and Zoo [ 79 



A close look at the sign may then reveal you are looking at a jabiru 

 stork. This is one of twenty or more different kinds of stork. It 

 stands between four and five feet in height, and is striking in ap- 

 pearance because its white plumage forms a strong contrast to 

 its bare head and neck, which are black. Its homeland is South 

 America. To Africa belongs another type of stork the "shoebill," 

 with its bill as prominent as its name suggests. Exquisitely soft 

 "marabou'* feathers are taken from the marabou stork of Africa 

 and India. Oddly enough, it is among the ugliest of birds, with 

 its head bare of feathers and a large bare pouch hanging from its 

 throat. Also found in Africa and Asia, as well as in Europe, are 

 black storks, handsome birds with red legs and beak. 



The "good luck" bird, the stork associated with children (Dutch 

 children for many generations have chanted a verse to this stork 

 asking for a little brother) is white. In Denmark, Germany, Hol- 

 land, and Turkey, where white storks breed, people eagerly at- 

 tempt to persuade them to settle on their housetops. It is an old 

 custom for the Dutch to erect large wooden boxes or platforms 

 above their chimneys as a nesting site. Once a nest has been used 

 by a pair of storks, they return to it year after year. They repair 

 it by adding sticks and reeds, and after a number of seasons, the 

 nest may be several feet high. During breeding season they make 

 a loud clapping noise with their beaks, but aside from this they 

 are silent. They display great affection for their babies; and the 

 Hebrew name, chasidah, given this stork, signifies "kindness" 

 or "mercy." 



CANARIES FAVORITE PETS 



The companionship of one of these cheerful songsters has 

 been a boon to many otherwise lonely people. For several hundred 

 years canaries have been the most popular of all bird pets. Today 

 we have about fifty different domestic kinds, each with distinctive 

 coloring and markings. Aside from the familiar yellow canaries, 

 you may see others with blue-gray, white, cinnamon-brown, and 

 a number of other tones. 



Keeping a caged pet makes it very convenient for you to observe 



