CICON1A ALBA. 209 



a hundred, flying northward at an immense height. As they 

 passed over the " Storkery," which was in a large grove of high 

 trees, they lowered themselves to within a hundred yards or so of 

 the nests, and after wheeling round a few minutes, as if to see 

 how affairs were going on, they worked up in a gyrating flight to 

 their original elevation, and continued their northerly journey, 

 doubtless to the great delight of the resident Storks, who were in 

 a great state of perturbation and disturbance at the appearance 

 of their brethren. I may here remark that Storks usually 

 migrate in large flocks at a great height, with a gyrating flight. 

 The earliest date of their arrival that I noticed near Gibraltar 

 was on the llth of January ; and they nearly all leave by the 

 end of September. Feeding on insects of all kinds, mice, snakes, 

 and other reptiles, they are most useful birds, and certainly 

 deserve the protection and encouragement which they receive in 

 Morocco, where they are in consequence excessively tame. 

 Their grotesque actions when nesting, and their habit of con- 

 tinually clacking their bills together, making a noise like a rattle, 

 render them very amusing to watch. I was informed by a 

 Frenchman who had passed two years in the city of Morocco, 

 that there, as well as at Fez and some other large towns in the 

 Moorish Empire, there is a regular Storks' hospital, and that 

 should one be in any way injured, or fall from the nest, it is sent 

 to this institution, or, rather, enclosure, which is kept up by 

 subscription from wealthy Moors, w r ho consider the Stork a 

 sacred bird. I merely mention this story to draw attention to 

 the subject in case of any future ornithologists visiting these 

 cities ; and w r ere not my informant worthy of credence, should 

 have omitted noticing it. 



White, except primaries, secondaries, scapulars, large wing-coverts, and 

 bare space round eye, which are black. Bill and legs red. Length 42 

 inches. 



