OPEN NESTS 147 



roof of a house, a mosque or even on the capitol of a 

 ruined pillar, as well as on the ledge of a precipice or 

 in the branches of a tree. As the nest is returned to 

 each year, it gradually increases in size, some of the 

 structures consisting of huge piles of sticks six feet 

 high, and four or five feet across. The sticks are 

 more or less intermingled with lumps of earth and 

 vegetable matter, vs^hilst the hollow at the top is lined 

 with an immense assortment of soft materials, such 

 as dry grass, feathers, straws, masses of hair and 

 wool, moss and such curious odds and ends as rags 

 and paper. On the other hand, the Black Stork 

 (C. nigra) is much more seclusive in its habits, 

 delighting to nest in large forests or woods close 

 to marshes. It returns each season to the old 

 locality and consequently the nest becomes a very 

 large one during the course of years. The nest is 

 usually made in a tree, but occasionally a convenient 

 site in a cliff is selected for it. This nest is a huge 

 flat structure of sticks, as much as six feet across, 

 the shallow cavity containing the eggs being lined 

 with green moss, the latter always being renewed 

 each season. Here I may remark that one of the 

 most curious known nests is made by the Hammer- 

 head (Scopus umbretta), an aberrant member of the 

 present group, but, as it does not come within the 

 division of •• open nests," I must reserve a descrip- 

 tion for a future chapter (conf. p. 210). 



We now pass on to the consideration of the nests 



