THE STORK 143 



Travelling in the same country, in 1881, Prince Rudolph 

 of Austria writes : " Storks were standing on the hillsides 

 in perfectly incredible numbers/ In no region have I ever 

 seen such masses of these birds as were assembled through- 

 out the whole valley of the Jordan, especially in the valley 

 of El-Audje." And a little earlier he says, "We rode along 

 the edge of the vegetation at the base of the mountains 

 through thick bushes and low trees, which were literally 

 covered with Storks just awakening from their slumbers." 



The flying powers of the Stork, like those of the wild 

 pelican, are surprisingly great. They fly very high and 

 they fly strongly. One who has watched them says, " The 

 black wings suddenly expanded from the white body have 

 a most striking efifect, having a spread of nearly seven feet ; 

 and the bird on the wing, showing its long bright-red bill, 

 and steering itself by its long red legs, stretched out far 

 beyond its tail, is a noble sight." 



When flying you may easily distinguish a Stork from a 

 heron, even if it be too high to tell the colour of the bird. 

 For the Stork flies with its neck straightened out ; the 

 heron, with its head drawn back between the shoulders. 



Although the Stork has no voice, it has a trick — 

 especially during its courting days and whenever it is very 

 excited — of keeping up a great clattering with its beak, 

 snapping the upper and lower mandibles together. You 

 would hardly think tha.t was a sound that could be heard 

 far away, yet one writer on birds, Mr. John Lea, says that 

 in Morocco, in spring-time, he has listened to the clatter of 

 Storks passing overhead, when the great flock was so high 

 up that not a bird could be seen ! 



1 The author of On Safari (1908) saw the White Storks " covering the plains " 

 in East Africa, " in a black " and white crowd." They reader excellent service 

 there iu devouring locusts. 



