BIRDS. 313 



form. The crane has a loud piercing voice ; the stork is silent, 

 and produces no other noise than the clacking of its under-chap 

 against the upper : the crane has a strange convolution of the 

 wind-pipe through the breast-bone ; the stork's is formed in the 

 usual manner : the crane feeds mostly upon vegetables and grain ; 

 the stork preys entirely upon frogs, fishes, birds, and serpents : 

 the crane avoids towns and populous places ; the stoik lives al- 

 ways in or near them : the crane lays but two eggs ; and the 

 stork generally four. These are distinctions fully sufficient to 



The Black Stork resembles the White in form and proportions, but is 

 Boraewhat pmaller in size ; and the hue of its plumage, as might be gatliered 

 from the epithets applied to the two birds, is very different. But these 

 epithets, if taken strictly, are far from being correct : the White Stork hav. 

 ing, as we have seen, a portion of its plumage black ; and the Black exhi- 

 biting a variety of shades, of which, however, that from which it derives its 

 name is the most predominant. Its bill, like that of the former bird, is full 

 seven inches in length, and of a dusky red, approaching to orange ; as are 

 also the legs and toes. The colour of the naked skin surrounding the eyes 

 is dull red, and that of the irides hazeL On the head, neck, upper surface 

 of the body and wings, the feathers are of a deep glossy black, intermingled 

 with varying shades and reflections of violet and green, which become more 

 strongly marked on the back and wings. Those of the whole under surface 

 from the bottom of the neck to the base of the tail are white. The tail itself 

 is black. The wings are extremely long, and so powerful as to raise the 

 bird, in its fii{,'hts and migrations, to such a height in the air as to be almost 

 invisible to human eye. 



Like the foregoing species, the black stork is a migratory bird, seeking the 

 more southern parts of Europe during the inclemency of winter. In the 

 spring it advances to a much higher latitude than the M'hite, visiting even 

 Russia and Siberia, and passing over Sweden towiU'ds the north in consider, 

 able numbers. But it seldom comes so far westward ;i3 the other, being al- 

 most unknown in Holland, although common in the eastern departments of 

 France and throughout the whole of Germany. A solitary instance of its 

 occurrence in Great Britain fell under the notice of the late Colonel Mon- 

 tagu, and forms the subject of an interesting paper in the twelfth volume of 

 the Linnean Transactions. 



The character of the black stork is in one respect diametrically opposed to 

 that of the white. Instead of domesticating itself as it were with man, it 

 shuns his society and makes its temporary dwelling in the most secluded 

 Bpot«, frequenting impenetrable morasses or the banks of such rivers and 

 lakes as are seldom disturbed by the presence of intruders, and building its 

 nest on the summits of the loftiest pines. Its food is exactly similar to that 

 of its more social fellow; and their manners, except in this peculiar sul- 

 lenness on the part of the black stork, closely correspond. It submits itself 

 with perfect resignation to captivity, never using its powerful bill as a 

 weapon of offence against its companions. It appears to have no other voice 

 than the clatteriuff sound which it produces by the snapping of its mandible* 

 —Znohgical Society Gardens. 



in- 2 I) 



