124 
BLACK STOKK. 
tree at night, and a solitary bird will perch on one in the 
day-time when not engaged in search of food. They walk 
about in a sedate, slow, and cautious manner. ‘When about 
to take wing, the Black Stork takes one or two short leaps; 
and when alighting it skims a short distance before touching 
the ground, and places its wing feathers in order before it 
moves on further.’ 
It makes a clattering sound by snapping the mandibles 
together. 
It builds its nest, which is rather large, on the summit 
of the loftiest pine and other trees. The foundation of sticks 
is solidified by the addition of sods, the whole being finished 
with smaller twigs, rushes, feathers, hair, and all sorts of 
suitable lining. 
The eggs, two or three or four, or even five in number, 
are of a buff white colour, faintly tinged with blue. 
Male; length, three feet six inches; bill, red with a tinge 
of orange; iris, reddish brown, a bare space of the same 
colour surrounds it. Head, crown, neck, nape, chin, and throat, 
glossy black, with blue, green, and copper-coloured reflections. 
Breast, white; back, glossy black, bronzed with reflections of 
blue, green, and copper-colour, varying according to the 
light in which the bird is viewed. The greater and lesser 
wing coverts likewise exhibit a resplendence of glossy black, 
blue, green, and copper-colour reflected, the green shewing 
on the margin of the feathers; primaries, black. Tail, black; 
under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, orange red; claws, 
black. 
In very young birds the bill is dull green; the bare space 
round the eyes is olive green. The head, crown, and neck, 
reddish brown. The legs, olive green. 
In the young in a stage advanced towards maturity, ‘mutatis 
mutandis,’ the bill is dusky red orange, brighter towards the 
tip. The iris is hazel; orbits, bright orange. The head, 
crown, neck, and nape, are described as being black or dusky 
brown, with purple reflections. Breast, white; back, brownish 
black, with paler margins to the feathers, and slightly glossed 
with green. Legs and toes, orange brown. 
