207 



Doiiana. Nesting about the middle of May, they lay four or five 

 pale brown-coloured eggs, placed in the midst of thick rushes. 

 I was unable personally to find a nest, but had several eggs 

 brought to me, and have often heard them calling in the daytime 

 a peculiar, booming unmistakable cry, whence, in almost all 

 countries, their local name is derived. 



They are more abundant in the winter months, arriving in the 

 end of October, and in some places are at times quite numerous 

 wherever there are rushes and sedges ; and I have occasionally 

 shot them in the sotos of the Cork-wood. Dull and sluggish 

 in habit, it is not until nearly trodden on that they will rise ; but 

 on one occasion I remember finding several in some rather open 

 marsh, and they flew up one by one far out of shot, seeking 

 refuge in the nearest thick reed-bed. Though often flushed 

 among sallows and bushes in the Soto Malabrigo, near Casas 

 Viejas, I never saw the Bittern perch on bushes or trees there OF 

 in any other country. 



Crown and nape black; general colour buff; a, large ruff on front of 

 neck ; the back irregularly marked with black ; primaries chestnut, barred 

 ivith blackish ; tail of ten feathers. Length 28-29 inches. 



CICONIID.E. 



223. Ciconia alba, Bechstein. The White Stork. 



Moorish. Belarech, as pronounced correctly "Blarij." SpatrislL 

 Cigiiefia. 



" This Stork is seen on migration in vast numbers around 

 Tangier, passing to Europe during January and February, some 

 of the birds terminating their journey by remaining to breed in: 

 Morocco. These are the first to depart south, returning again 

 year after year to the same places, and apparently by the same- 

 route as that taken in their gradual departure., 



"Some large flights pass on without stopping; those which 



