BLACK STORK. 531 



We soon found a very large " horst " of a Goshawk. We tapped on the 

 trunk of the oak in which it was, and shouted, but to no purpose. As the 

 tree was easy to climb, Gottlieb got up to the nest, but found it empty. 

 Before he had descended we found the nest of the Black Stork on a large 

 oak not more than fifty yards from the other nest ; but there was no sign 

 of a bird. Our guide assured us that it was occupied, so we concluded 

 that the noise we had made at the Goshawk's empty nest had frightened 

 the bird away. The tree was an old oak at least five feet in diameter for 

 some distance from the ground, and thirty feet without a branch. Gottlieb 

 accordingly ascended a tree close by to reconnoitre ; and just as he got up 

 it to the level of the nest, to our great astonishment off flew a Black Stork 

 and began to wheel round and round in the air above the tree. She was 

 soon joined by another, so Gottlieb descended and at once began to make 

 preparations for the ascent. We had some difficulty in throwing the line 

 over the lowermost branch, which was dead but very thick ; at last we 

 succeeded, and having hauled up the rope-ladder, Gottlieb was soon on the 

 branch. The distance to the next branch was too far to reach by sheer 

 climbing, so the rope-ladder had to be got up another stage, and the nest 

 was then soon reached. It was about fifty feet from the ground, on the 

 fork of a large horizontal branch about halfway up the tree. It measured 

 from five to six feet in diameter, and was in some places two feet high, 

 and was composed of old dead twigs, bleached with many years' exposure. 

 The top of the nest was almost flat, covered over with a thick layer of 

 green moss, and in a slight depression in the middle lay three young birds 

 not long hatched and one egg already chipped. Both parent birds remained 

 within sight whilst we were at the nest. 



Near the Lantow See in Pomerania I visited another nest of the Black 

 Stork on the 30th of May in the same year, in the company of my friend 

 Dr. Holland. It had not been occupied for the last year or two, and was 

 built in a beech about thirty feet from the ground. It was very large and 

 deep, but appeared flat at the top. The forester told us that for two 

 successive years he had known of two nests of the Black Stork in one 

 beech tree. In the afternoon we made a detour in the forest on our way 

 to the station to visit another nest of this interesting bird. It was in a 

 Scotch fir not more than forty feet from the ground, on the fork of a flat 

 branch which grew out a few feet above the main fork of the tree. The 

 old bird was standing on the nest, almost as motionless as if she was 

 asleep, contemplating her four " ugly ducklings/ 3 and she did not seem at 

 all alarmed at our approach, and allowed us to examine her leisurely 

 through our binoculars. The ground underneath the tree was covered 

 with the droppings of- the young. The nest was very large, at least four 

 and a half feet across, and with scarcely any depression in the centre; 

 the top was covered all over with green moss. As we stood looking at 



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