530 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Madeira, and is a regular winter visitor to most parts of Africa. It is said to 

 breed in Palestine, but in Asia Minor is only known as passing through on 

 migration. It is a summer visitor to various parts of Persia, and Turkestan 

 as far east as Yarkand, and winters in North-west and Central India. It 

 is said to pass through South-east Mongolia on migration, and winters in 

 Central China, but may possibly breed in the north of that country. The 

 Black Stork does not appear to have any nearer allies than Ciconia episcopus, 

 which inhabits the Ethiopian and Oriental Regions, and C. microscelis, 

 from Central Africa, both of which may easily be distinguished from it 

 by their white necks. 



The habits of the Black Stork differ in many important respects from 

 those of its ally. Its range does not extend so far north during the 

 breeding-season, and it never remains in Europe during the winter, as the 

 White Stork occasionally does. It studiously avoids the presence of man, 

 and seeks to hide its nest in the recesses of the virgin forest. It is not at 

 all gregarious, except on migration, and is very silent, its " klapper " being 

 rarely heard. From all these circumstances we may infer that the Black 

 Stork is a much more cautious bird than the White Stork, though its 

 extreme caution does not appear to have been of much advantage to it, 

 as it is on the whole a much rarer bird than its bolder relative. It must 

 be quite as hardy, since it arrives at its summer-quarters somewhat 

 earlier, and leaves again for the south slightly later than the common 

 species. 



Neither in its walk, nor in its flight, nor in the nature of its food does 

 it differ from the White Stork. 



Five and twenty years ago the Black Stork bred regularly in many of 

 the forests in the immediate neighbourhood of Brunswick ; now it has 

 become rare, and a visit to the "horst " of a pair of these interesting birds 

 means a hard day's work, and only to be successfully accomplished after 

 diligent inquiry. When I was in Eastern Germany in the spring of 1882 

 my friend Oberamtmann Nehrkorn was kind enough to conduct me to 

 the nest of a pair of these fine birds in a forest about twelve miles from 

 Riddagshausen, beyond the village of Glentorf. We picked up a guide on 

 the way, and of course took with us our invincible " Kletterer " Gottlieb, 

 armed with a rope-ladder. After a long cold drive in a bitter north-east 

 wind (although it was the 19th of May) we reached Glentorf, and a couple 

 of miles beyond the village brought us into the heart of the forest. We 

 had not walked very far before we found ourselves in a virgin forest or 

 " Urwald," with grand oaks probably five hundred years old, full of rotten 

 branches, and occasionally with hollows in the stems. Intermingled with 

 the oaks were fine lofty beeches, but there was very little underwood. 

 The ground was very swampy, and underneath many of the oaks grew 

 Arum, Oxalis, and other plants. 



