146 BIRDS' NESTS 



generally lined with dry grass. When built in swamps 

 it is less carefully constructed yet substantial, and 

 largely composed of dead reeds, rush leaves and a 

 few sticks, and lined with dry grass. The tree nests 

 are generally the largest, being several feet in 

 diameter and a foot or more in thickness, the cup, 

 however, being more or less flat and shallow. Almost 

 precisely the same remarks apply to the cradles of 

 the Ibises, but these birds are more addicted to 

 building in trees, their nests being chiefly composed 

 of sticks and bits of reed and turf. They are not 

 quite so gregarious and social, although often found 

 breeding in company with allied birds. Some species, 

 such as the Hagedash Ibis {Geronticiis hagedash)^ 

 although gregarious at other times, are said to 

 separate into pairs during the breeding season. The 

 Storks (Ciconiid^) make nests of a very similar type, 

 but never on the ground, placing them on trees, clifl's, 

 and buildings, the latter sites having been selected 

 more recently, as we have found to be the case with 

 so many other birds. Some of the Storks are very 

 familiar birds, breeding on homesteads, and ex- 

 ceptionally tame and confiding, because they are 

 never molested ; indeed, in some countries, they are 

 objects of veneration, and held sacred by the inhabi- 

 tants. They are more or less gregarious, and return 

 with unerring certainty to their old haunts season 

 after season. The White Stork {Ciconia alba), for 

 instance, builds its nest indiscriminately upon the 



