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Unlike the White Stork, which generally places its nest on a house or on a tree close to a 

 village or farm-house, the present species breeds in unfrequented forest districts, usually near a 

 small lake or swamp, and places its nest on some large tree, most commonly on a large oak or 

 beech, the position chosen being on one of the large side branches at some distance from the 

 ground. The nest itself is constructed of dried sticks, and lined with grass or moss ; the con- 

 struction is often but poor and slight ; and sometimes the deserted nest of some other bird is 

 selected to form the foundation of the Stork's nest. It is said never to breed in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of another of its own species, each pair keeping a considerable tract of land in 

 their own possession. During the breeding-season they are very shy, and most difficult of 

 approach, but they sit close and seldom leave the nest until an intruder is close to the tree on 

 which it is placed. The usual number of eggs is from three to four ; but I have had several 

 clutches of five, and have been told on good authority that six are sometimes deposited. It 

 does not always place its nest on a tree, but occasionally in a cliff; and Mr. W. H. Hudleston 

 gives (Ibis, 1861, p. 372) the following notes on its nidification in Bulgaria : — " The Black Stork 

 (Ciconia nigra) also breeds here; at least we discovered one ttest in a very peculiar position for 

 a bird which has the reputation of breeding in the densest thickets of impervious morasses. 

 The cliff in this case was about sixty feet high, the strata being horizontal or nearly so. In the 

 face of the upper ledge there had been at some time, artificially excavated in the soft stone, a 

 chamber having a sort of antechamber, which communicated by means of a couple of steps with 

 a crack in the rock. This crack was not difficult to reach from the top when the exact path was 

 once known. The chamber itself had much the appearance of a hermit's cell; but as the 

 aperture in the face of the cliff was the entire width of one side, the apartment was airy and 

 cheerful, commanding a fine view of the valley below. Altogether it was a place where one 

 could have had no objection to put up for a few days in case of necessity. There it was that a 

 pair of Black Storks had taken lodgings for the season, as we found one morning about the 

 27th of April. Some little time elapsed before we discovered the secret of the entrance from 

 the top, a fact of which the Black Storks were probably not cognizant. At the time of our first 

 visit there were no eggs, nor indeed was there any thing exactly worthy of the name of a nest. 

 But in the floor of the chamber was a circular depression about the size and shape of a large 

 dinner plate, not far from the edge of the aperture. For what singular purpose this depression, 

 evidently artificial, had been made, was to us as great a mystery as the origin of the entire 

 excavation. The Black Stork had evidently thought she could put it to some use; for it was 

 here, upon a few dry sticks which partially filled the depression, that she meant to lay her eggs. 

 As it was necessary for me to leave Turkey altogether about the 4th of May, it was agreed not 

 to approach the place again till the day of my departure. In the interim I used occasionally to 

 take a stroll down the valley, and seat myself on the opposite hill, where, through the telescope, 

 I could see the Black Stork sitting composedly on her makeshift of a nest, looking like some 

 spirit of darkness in its cave. Already I was counting the eggs, which would undoubtedly have 

 been mine but for the evil curiosity of a Transylvanian shepherd, who had noticed me spying 

 into the hole, and had perhaps seen us entering it. On the appointed day I rode over with my 

 friend R. B. Dismounting at the edge of the cliff, we crept down to the crack in the rock, and 

 thence through the artificial passage into the chamber itself. Neither bird nor eggs were 

 visible ; some great catastrophe had happened, and the eggs I had counted on, though laid, 



