DISSTJEA EPISCOPA. 1121 



colour as the lower neck, with green reflections ; breast, flanks, and auxiliaries brownish black, illumined at the tips 

 of the feathers with green ; under wing blackish green ; abdomen, under tail-coverts, inner side of tibia, and tail 

 pure white ; under surface of quills metallic green. The curiously forked upper tail-coverts reaching laterally to 

 the end of the tail gives this species, as Jerdon remarks, the appearance of having a double tail. 



Young. An immature bird in my collection has the head brown, mixed with green feathers ; the upper surface is as 



Africa. About January vast numbers of Storks pass through Morocco and over the Straits of Gibraltar, spreading over 

 portions of Spain (in the south of which they commence to lay as early as the latter half of March), and extending north- 

 ward through Prance to the Low countries, and eastward thence into Denmark, where it used to be very abundant prior 

 to the draining of the extensive marshes and morasses of the country. Further north still it strays in small numbers 

 into Norway, and perhaps more numerously into Sweden. On its way northward it has from time to time visited the 

 British Isles, having been met with or killed in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Yorkshire, 

 and very rarely in Scotland, having once been shot as far north as Shetland. In the county of Norfolk it has occurred 

 more frequently than elsewhere. Once only has it been obtained in Ireland. Eastward in Europe the migratory stream 

 of Storks seems to be less powerful ; but though they pass through Italy in small numbers, visiting the Mediterranean 

 isles on their way over from Africa, yet they muster in considerable force in Germany. Further east again it is more 

 numerous, migrating abundantly from Egypt into Greece, and passing northward into Southern Eussia ; in Northern 

 Eussia it is rare, though it occurs in the Governments of Moscow and Jaroslaf, and further west, in Poland, is very 

 common. Finally, it occasionally happens that flocks diverge westward on their way north from Africa and visit the 

 Canaries, but do not remain in those islands, passing on to the coast of Europe. 



Habits. — This Stork is the most sociable of its family, migrating in large flocks, the members of which keep together 

 throughout their journey and fly at an immense altitude. When a halt is made in districts where they perceive that food 

 abounds they are very useful in clearing the country of reptiles, locusts, and small vermin, not frequenting the vicinity 

 of water, but spreading themselves over the plains and fields, each bird keeping a little apart from its neighbour. The 

 males arrive in European countries some days before the females, and employ their time in inspecting their old nests, 

 which they reoccupy every year. In India and other tropical countries where they pass the winter they associate in 

 flocks and frequent open plains. They are held sacred in Mohammedan countries, and are consequently excessively 

 tame ; Col. Irby was informed on credible authority that in some towns in Morocco there is a Stork hospital, where birds 

 that fall from a nest, or get injured in any other way, are sent and cared for ! Storks are said to utter no note. They 

 have a habit, when under the influence of any emotion, of clattering their bills, throwing back their heads always while 

 so doing, and violently snapping their mandibles together. In India it is often hawked, and, according to Jerdon, is a 

 common and favourite quarry for the Peregrine. It walks in a stately manner, and is a graceful bird in the way it holds 

 its head and in its general deportment. I have noticed that it stands much on one leg, balancing itself with marvellous 

 steadiness. In Europe it is strictly preserved, and its annual return to the towns and villages where its nests are situated 

 is looked for with great interest by the inhabitants, many of whom consider it a very lucky circumstance to have a Stork's 

 nest built on their chimneys. In Denmark it is the subject of many legends and nursery tales ; and the fact of a dead 

 young one or an addled egg being often thrown out of the nest has given rise to the superstition among the peasantry 

 that the bird throws them clown to pay its rent. Storks evince great affection for one another : Brehm writes that in 

 Egypt a male has been known to remain behind with a female which had been wounded. 



Nidification. — The Stork either nests on trees or on the roofs of buildings ; the former are often chosen in Africa 

 and also in Asia ; but in European towns the nests are placed nearly always on buildings. I have seen them myself in 

 Strasburg and in Schleswig Holstein on chimneys. The nest is a very large structure of sticks, which is added to year 

 after year until the walls become very high and the fabric so massive that occasionally part of it has to be removed during 

 the winter to relieve the roof of the house from the weight. The old birds have been known to recognize and take pos- 

 session of the nest after it had been removed during the winter to another spot. The males fight so vigorously for the 

 possession of the females that two have been known to disable each other in these matrimonial battles. The number of 

 eggs laid varies from three to five ; they are pure white, and measure about 2-8 to 3-2 inches in length by 2-0 to 2-2 in 

 breadth. The young are fed by the parent birds wdth food that has been swallowed; on alighting on the nest they 

 throw back their heads over their shoulders, and, pointing the bill upwards, eject the food from their stomachs. 



