grasshoppers, as well as small rodents and reptiles ; 

 I am sorry to confess, however, that I have heard, on 

 most unimpeachable authority, of the Storks making 

 free not only with young game birds, but also with 

 leverets, and from my observation of this species in 

 captivity I can fully believe that nothing eatable would 

 come amiss to their taste. The only sound that I have 

 ever heard produced by the White Stork is a loud 

 clattering of the bill : this is without doubt their love- 

 song, but is often to be heard at seasons when not 

 prompted by passion of any sort, and I never heard it 

 produced during the many fierce encounters that I have 

 witnessed between male Storks both in a wild state 

 and in my own aviaries. With regard to this clattering of 

 the bill, and the protection afforded to the Stork by the 

 Mahomedans, a curious story may be found quoted by 

 my friend Colonel Irby in his very interesting ' Orni- 

 thology of the Straits of Gibraltar.' 



