STORKS. 281 



the latter, we found here planted abundantly, 

 and far advanced in leaf. A still better evi- 

 dence of the superior mildness of the climate 

 and advance of the season in this locality, though 

 elevated four thousand feet above the sea, was 

 indicated by the storks, several of which birds 

 had built their enormous nests on the house- 

 tops in the village. In one, the young were al- 

 ready fledged. As yet in the more northern 

 plains, but few storks had ventured, and none 

 had begun to breed. Storks and swallows 

 are almost domesticated in Turkey, through the 

 scrupulous care shown by the inhabitants to 

 preserve their nests. They are allowed to build 

 where they like unmolested. Frequently in the 

 Turkish houses we saw the nests of swallows 

 stuck about all parts of the ceiling, each "with 

 a small piece of board fixed under to prevent 

 the droppings soiling the cushions of the divan, 

 or the carpets. The stork seldom builds his 

 nest far from a village, and usually selects the 

 roof of a house for its site. Such is the con- 

 fidence these birds have learned to place in the 

 Mahomedan part of the population, that it is 

 not uncommon to see every house in a Turkish 

 village crowned with their nests. They shun 



