STORKS AND HERONS 53 



a dozen to a vast height, so that the birds appear as mere 

 tiny specks ; and after wheeling and evoluting for ten 

 minutes or a quarter of an hour, flying off in a straight line 

 presumably to some distant feeding ground. The nests of 

 these birds are placed in trees at no great distance from 

 the ground. I have seen them not higher than twenty 

 feet ; and few are built in tall trees. The nest is a large 

 platform of sticks, pretty well covered with dead rushes 

 and long bents of grass ; and the nests of a small flock are 

 built in the same neighbourhood, though perhaps not very 

 closely together. Twenty or thirty nests may occupy a 

 mile of the tree belt, though they are quite as often 

 placed in trees a long way from the river, but always 

 near a swamp, billabung, or water-hole. 



The smaller, but not less beautiful, white-heron, 

 (Ardea flavirostris) is also found on the Darling, congre- 

 gating in small flocks which seldom exceed twenty 

 individuals. Solitary pairs are frequently met with. 

 This bird also builds on the tops of low trees. The nest 

 is only a loose platform of sticks, twigs, and roots, and the 

 young are almost invariably four in number. 



