458 



THE STORK. 



tlie eggs from the wet. There is no lining to the nest. The eggs are 

 generally four in number, and their color is grayish white spotted with 

 rather pale rusty brown. 



The Stork is another of the birds which in the olden days were tol- 

 erably frequent visitors to the British Islands, but which now seldom 

 make their appearance in such inhospitable regions, where food is 

 i irce and guns are many. 



It is sufficiently common in many parts of Europe, whither it mi- 

 grates yearly from its winter-quarters in Africa, makes its nest, and 

 rears its young. 



The Stork attaches itself to man and his habitations, building its 

 huge nest on the top of his house, and walking about in his streets as 



familiarly as if it had 

 built them. It especial- 

 ly parades about the fish- 

 markets, where it finds no 

 lack of subsistence in the 

 offal ; and in Holland, 

 where it is very common, 

 it does good service by 

 destroying the frogs and 

 other reptiles which would 

 be likely to become a pub- 

 lic nuisance unless kept 

 down by the powerful aid 

 of this bird. 



The Stork is fond of 

 making its nest upon 

 some elevated spot, such 

 as the top of a house, a 

 chimney, or a church- 

 spire, and in the ruined 

 cities of the East almost 

 every solitary pillar has 

 its Stork's nest upon the 

 summit. The nest is little 

 ,, ,^ , more than a heterogene- 



feTORK (Ciconin albaK , m n f- i 



ous bundle oi sticks, 

 reeds, and similar substances heaped together and with a slight de- 

 pression for the eggs. These are usually three or four in number, 

 and their color is white with a tinge of buff. 



The color of the adult Stork is pure white with the exception of the 

 quill feathers of the wings, the scapularies, and greater wing-coverts, 

 which are black. The skin round the eye is black, the eyes are brown. 



