ORDER GRALL^. 499 



stork is enabled to rise to a very considerable elevation in the 

 air, and to make very long voyages, even in stormy weather. 

 These birds return to Alsace about the end of February ; 

 they appear in Switzerland in the month of March, arrive in 

 Germany in the earliest days of May, and everywhere their 

 appearance indicates the return of Spring. Each couple 

 constantly returns to the same places to reproduce, and build 

 their nests. If the old nest remain, they occupy it ; but if it 

 be destroyed, they reconstruct one, wdth slender twigs, 

 rushes, and water plants of various kinds, which they accu- 

 mulate in great quantities. They usually place it upon 

 eminences of some kind, on the battlements of towers, and 

 sometimes on the summits of the largest trees which overhang 

 the waters, or at the point of a precipitous rock. Every- 

 where the stork prefers such points of position as command 

 the entire neighbourhood, and do not allow of a view into its 

 nest. In Lorrain, Alsace, and particularly in Holland, these 

 birds nestle on the tops of the houses, and the inhabitants 

 provide boxes for their accommodation. The eggs are never 

 more than four in number, and often only two; of a yel- 

 lowish dirty white, a little less bulky, but more elongated 

 than those of the goose. The male sits upon them, while the 

 female goes to seek her food. In about a month the young 

 are excluded, and then the activity of the parents is redoubled 

 to procure and bring sustenance to their growing family. 

 They fill their oesophagus and stomach with food, which they 

 disgorge to the young, who receive it, rising up and uttering 

 a hissing noise. Both parents are never away from the nest 

 together. While one is engaged in hunting, the other 

 remains in the neighbourhood, standing upon one leg, with 

 an eye always to the young. The latter, in their early age, 

 are covered only with a brown down ; and being, as yet, with- 

 out sufficient strength to support themselves on their legs, 

 which are very slender, they trail themselves in the nest on 



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