STORKS. 169 



having passed the winter in the south, and the farmer and his children greet them joy. 

 fully, as if they were members of the family. The storks, when migrating, travel in 

 large flocks. Canon Tristram thus describes his experience in Palestine, in 1881, with 

 the migrating storks : " The stork kept its appointed time, and stalked solemnly over 

 the plains from the 10th April. I never saw one after the 22d April. Up to that 

 date there was a constant succession of arrivals from the south and departures for the 

 north. The most wonderful flight of storks was one which passed over us in the plain 

 of the upper Jordan on 19th April, steering due north, in the long V-like wedges with 

 which we are so familiar in the flight of wild geese. Party after party passed, per- 

 petually changing their leader, and the hindmost of the longest limb frequently cross- 

 ing lover to take the rear of the other limb ; but never, countless though their num- 

 bers were, did they fly in a mass, or in any other order than that of the wedge." 



There remains still to be mentioned two genera of storks in which the structure of 

 the tail is curiously modified. The genus Dissoura, with the plumage of the. head 

 and neck downy, size small, and with metallic reflections above, inhabits India and 

 Africa, while Euxenura is South American. The latter is as large as the European 

 stork, and similarly colored, but with the bill yellow. Both agree, however, in having 

 the tail proper strongly bifurcated, the outer tail-feathers being much larger than the 

 middle pair. This character alone would make these birds unique within their order, 

 but the tail is still more strangely constructed, for the lower tail-coverts are stiff and 

 longer than the tail-feathers themselves ! To a superficial observer it appears as if 

 the tail is white, slightly rounded, and protected at the base by some stiffened black 

 upper coverts, arranged in an abnormal manner, while the fact is that the tail is black, 

 and bifurcate, with white long under tail-coverts ! Thus a well-known author in 1877, 

 while monographing the order, in the species diagnosis, speaks of the upper tail-coverts 

 being bifurcate and raven-black ! The mistake is easily discovered by a close inspec- 

 tion, for the black feathers have the groove on the under side of the shaft, while the 

 white ones are grooved on the side turned up. Mr. Robert Ridgway, in establishing 

 the genus Euxenura, seems to have been the first to understand, and clearly describe, 

 the true nature of these feathers in the American species. 



The maguari stork (JEktxenura maguari)) the only known species, is confined to 

 South America. Mr. Gibson says that it is very common in Buenos Ayres, and not 

 entirely confined to the swamps, but is also found on the plains, " at offal, or stalking 

 about in search of snakes, frogs, lizards, rats and mice, locusts, and birds' eggs, any- 

 thing and eveiy thing, in short." Of a tame maguari, which was called ' Byles, the 

 lawyer,' he relates that it seized snakes by the nape of the neck, and passed them 

 transversely through its bill by a succession of rapid and powerful nips, repeating the 

 operation two or three times before being satisfied that life was totally extinct. 

 " Byles inspired a wholesome respect in all the dogs and cats, but was very peaceable 

 as a rule. One of our men had played some trick on him, however ; and the result 

 was that Byles incontinently * went for him ' on every possible occasion, his long legs 

 covering the ground like those of an ostrich, while he produced a demoniacal row with 

 his bill. It was amusing to see his victim dodging^ him all over the place, or some- 

 times, in desperation, turning on him with a stick ; but Byles evaded every blow by 

 jumping eight feet into the air, coming down on the other side of his enemy, and 

 there repeating his war-dance ; while he always threatened (though these threats were 

 never fulfilled) to make personal and pointed remarks with his formidable bill." 



In order that the reader may be enabled to distinctly understand the intermediate 



