B1RU3. 31 1 



tl e same formation as to the bill, neck, legs, and body, except 

 that it is something more corpulent. Its differences are but very 

 slight ; such as the colour, which in the crane, is ash and black, 

 but in the stork is white and brown. The nails of the toes o^ 



storks are driven by the failure of their usual means of subsistence to seek 

 a more temperate climate, in which the same scarcity of food is not likely 

 to be felt ; but they constantly return northwards with the return of spring-. 

 The most common and the most celebrated among them is the White Stork, 

 which generally passes its winters in the north of Africa, and more parti, 

 cularly in Egypt, and migrates during the summer season to France and 

 Holland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, and sometimes even Kussia, but is 

 very rarely met with in England. It is rather larger than the black stork, 

 measuring more than three feet from the extremity of the bill to the tip of the 

 tail, and standing about the same height from the ground to the top of its head. 

 Its bill, which is usually of an orange red, measures from seven to eight 

 inches in length ; the naked and wrinkled skin surrounding its eyes is nearly 

 of the same colour, but generally of a duskier hue ; and its legs are also red. 

 The greater part of its plumage is of a clear white, which is however re- 

 lieved by the striking contrast of the feathers covering the lower part of the 

 shoulders, the larger wing. coverts, and the quill.fuathcrs, thirty in number, 

 all of which are of a glossy black, with a slight metallic reflection. When 

 fully expanded the extent of the wings exceeds six feet, and in this state 

 the eiglit or nine primary quill-feathers oflin- a very singular and indeed 

 unique disposition, being separated from each other so as to leave a vacant 

 space between. The feathers of the lower part of the neck are long, pen. 

 dulous, and pointed. There is little distinction in any of these particuLus 

 between the male and the female ; but the young have a browner tinge in 

 their wings, and their hills are of a duskier red. 



These birds have in all ages been regarded with peculiar favour, amount- 

 ing, in some countries, almost to veneration, partly on account of the ser. 

 vices which they perform in the destruction of noxious animals, and in 

 removing impurities from the surface of the earth, and partly on aiconnt of 

 the mildness of their temper, the harmlessncss of their habits, and the moral 

 virtues with which imagination has delighted to invest them. Among the 

 ancient Egyptians the Stork wns regarded with a reverence inferior only 

 to that which, for similar causes, was paid to tlii' sacred Ibis, cr)nsidercd, 

 and with some show of reason, as one of tin; tutelary divinities of the land. 

 The same feeling is still prevalent in many parts of Africa and the East; 

 and even in Switzerland and in Holland sonn'thing like superstition seems 

 to mingle, in the minds of the connnon people, with the hospitable kindness 

 which a strong conviction of its utility disposes them to evince towards this 

 favourite bird. In the latter country more particularly, the protection 

 which is accorded to it is no more llian it fairly deserves as the unconscious 

 instrument by which the dikes and marshes are relieved from a largo por. 

 tion of the enormous quantity of reptihis engendered by the humidity and 

 fertility of the soil. 



On the other hand, the white stork appears to be influenced by the sanio 

 friendly feelings towards man. Undismayed by his ))resence, it builds its 

 Iwst upon the liou»e-top, or on tla; sununits ol the loftiest trees in the inu 



