Storks 1 5 3 



is provided with a single, rather small entrance ingeniously placed on the most 

 inaccessible, side, while within it is neatly plastered with mud and more or less 

 divided into compartments. The nest is made use of by the birds the year round, 

 and not infrequently several nests are found within a short distance, Dr. Sharpe 

 mentioning having seen six or eight within fifty yards. The eggs, three to five 

 in number, are pure white, and small for the size of the bird. Both sexes appear 

 to take part in the duties of incubation, and it is recorded that two and perhaps 

 more broods are reared in a year. The Hammerkop has the habit, similar to 

 that of the Australian Bower-bird, of embellishing its dwelling with any glitter- 

 ing or bright-colored object, such as bits of crockery, buttons, bleached bones, etc. 



THE STORKS, IBISES, AND SPOON-BILLS 



(Suborder Ciconia) 



The birds of this group resemble in a general way the Herons and their 

 immediate allies, having relatively long legs and necks, but they are distinguished 

 chiefly by structural characters, and we may only mention the absence of powder- 

 down patches, and the hind toe elevated above the plane of the others, leaving 

 the more complete characterization to be recorded under the description of the 

 various groups. The suborder is divided into two superfamilies, iheCiconiidce, 

 or Storks and Wood Ibises, and the Ibid-ee, which embraces the families Ibididce, 

 or true Ibises, and the Plataleida, or Spoon-bills. 



THE STORKS 



(Family Ciconiidce) 



The Storks, although very widely distributed and popularly quite well known, 

 are a small group comprising less than twenty forms. They have what may be 

 called plump bodies, rather long legs and short necks, and large, compressed, 

 conical, sharp-pointed bills which may be either nearly straight, somewhat 

 curved or open in the middle. The front toes are connected at the base by a 

 web, but the middle claw is without the pectination found in the Herons, while 

 the tarsus is covered with reticulated scales, and the leg bare well up to the 

 thighs. The wings are large, for they are powerful flying birds, and when on the 

 wing the neck is held straight forward, another feature in which they differ from 

 Herons. The short rounded tail is composed of ten feathers. They are, of 

 course, without the powder-downs. 



Among a number of anatomical characters we may mention that "the syrinx 

 has no' intrinsic muscles, and the Storks are consequently deprived of voice, and 

 the only sound they produce is a loud clatter, by beating their huge mandibles 

 together." STEJNEGER. 



White Stork. The true Storks (Ciconia) are confined to the Old World, 



