WHITE STOEK. 121 



male and the female, and is also taken up by the young as 

 soon as fledged. A hissing noise is also emitted, especially 

 by the young birds when in fear. 



The periodical return of the Stork to the place of its nest, 

 the home of its own youth, and in like manner of its ancestors 

 for generation after generation, is well known. 'In various 

 parts of Holland, the nest of this bird, built on the chimney 

 top, remains undisturbed for many succeeding years, and 

 the owners constantly return with unerring sagacity to the 

 well-known spot. The joy which they manifest on again 

 taking possession of their deserted dwelling, and the attach- 

 ment which they testify towards their benevolent hosts, are 

 familiar in the mouth of everyone.' 'In Holland particularly, 

 in some parts of Germany, and indeed in all countries where 

 it breeds, it is protected; boxes are provided for them on 

 the. tops of the houses; and^in several continental cities, he 

 considers himself a fortunate man, whose roof the Stork 

 selects for its periodical resting-place.' Platforms and other 

 artificial flat erections are also placed for them to build on. 



A heap of sticks and twigs, with any other coarse materials, 

 forms the nest. It is placed on the house top, the summit 

 of some tall chimney, the steeple of a church, or an old 

 tower, or turret; as well as on the highest parts of the 

 loftiest trees, in the immediate vicinity of the most crowded 

 thoroughfares. 



The eggs are usually three or four in number; white, tinged 

 with buff, and of a short oval form. The young are hatched 

 after a month's incubation, and are attended to with sedulous 

 attention by both parents, until fully fledged and able to 

 provide for themselves. The old birds feed them from their 

 own bills, with food they have previously swallowed. 



Male; length, three feet six or eight inches; bill, red; iris, 

 brown; the bare part round it black. Head, crown, neck, 

 nape, chin, throat, breast, and back, pure unsullied white. 

 Greater wing coverts, glossy black, shaded with grey towards 

 the shafts; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, black. Legs 

 and toes, red; claws, brown. 



There is no difference in the plumage of the male and the 

 female. Bill, in the latter, dark brownish red; legs and toes, 

 dark brownish red. 



In the young the black parts of the plumage are tinged 

 with brown. 



