OF EASTERN TURKESTAN. 195 
I saw a flock of these birds, evidently migrating, flying over 
Sanju. The birds appeared to be going rather slowly, but were 
high up and moving in a south- ~easterly direction ; the flock was 
flying inthe form of avery wide V, with the point forwards. 
From what I saw of the young birds of the year, however, I 
should imagine that a great number of these birds could not 
leave Kashgharia before the end of September ; in fact I saw 
some of these birds near Kashghar about the middle of October 
1874. InJune and July the White Stork was common within 
eight or ten miles of the City of Yarkand, frequenting waste 
and marshy ground, singly, in companies of three or four, and 
sometimes as many as fifteen or twenty birds standing in line 
in front of tall grass and all facing the same way, 
On the 5th July my Shikari found a nest of this species at 
Tugutatar, about seven miles from Yarkand. The nest was 
placed in a high poplar tree (P. alba) about thirty feet above 
the ground ; it wasa sort of platform about five feet in diameter, 
made up of branches, sticks and twigs, and some portions of a 
thorny bush. ‘This platform was covered with pieces of felt, wool, 
&e., which formed a sort of very shallow cup. In this nest jive 
young birds, two of which he brought to me, secretly stowed in 
alarge bag. I doubted the story of five young storks being 
found in one nest and next day a soldier of the escort went out 
with the Shikari to see the place. The soldier told me that he 
saw the nest, that there were no others about, and he certainly 
found it to contain three young birds. The Shikari wished to 
bring the latter away, but the Yarkandis living about the place 
would not hear of this, averring that it was a sin to meddle with 
the young of the Stork, as this bird was well known to go on a 
pilgrimage to Mecca every year ! 
I kept the young birds for about a month and found that they 
grew rapidly. They were very tame, but exceedingly voracious, 
eating as much raw meat as one would give them, and never 
appearing to be satisfied. When angry at missing a piece of 
meat they would throw their heads back and clatter their man- 
dibles loudly—as if gnashing their teeth through rage; but 
occasionally they would begin a clattering match together 
apparently only for amusement. When they wanted to be fed 
they made a shrill whining sort of noise. They were very weak 
on their legs at first, but- about a fortnight after I got them 
they began to practise short flights, only managing at first to 
raise their levs a few inches off the ground. About the end of 
July one of the birds was put on the roof of a house and 
managed to fly off for about three hundred yards. The Turki 
name for this Stork is Laglag, but its local name about Yarkand 
is Ala Sokan, 1. e., Variegated Stork. 
