Storks, though easily tamed, are naturally shy, solitary birds, which frequent wooded or open country on plains or hills, usually near inland waters, creeks, or salt-water lagoons; the White Stork and the Adjutant are, however, instances of somewhat different habits, the former showing a predilection for homesteads, and the latter being protected as a scavenger in some parts of India; while Ciconia abdimii is considered a "bird of blessing" by the natives of Africa. Flocks are occasionally seen. The flight is graceful and noiseless, but powerful and rapid, the neck and legs being carried in line with the body, and immense heights being often attained by soaring and circling movements. No difficulty is experienced in walking, and many species stalk solemnly about in pursuit of prey, whether in water or on dry land; not uncommonly they rest with the whole metatarsus upon the ground, or stand on one foot with the bill touching the breast. They are ordinarily quiescent during the heat of the day, and at night frequently roost in trees. Mycteria senegalensis and M. indica are said to dance around their mates, the former skipping and bowing, and the latter fluttering its extended wings, which touch those of its partner, while advancing the head and making a clatter with the bill.[[97]] Generally speaking, this is the only noise Storks produce, owing to the want of voice-muscles; but Adjutants are said to utter a loud grunting croak or bellow, and the young of Ciconia nigra to give vent to a guttural cry. The food consists of fish, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs, grasshoppers, and beetles, with small mammals, or even eggs and young of birds; but Leptoptilus is nearly omnivorous and enjoys carrion, including human carcases, Dissura maguari having like habits. Anastomus is called the Shell-Ibis from its cleverness in extracting Unio and other molluscs from their shells, and Mycteria thrusts its bill into the ground in search of grubs. The nests are frequently in tall trees, but may be on ledges or in cavities of cliffs, or on flat tops of rocky hills; the shallow fabric, often of enormous size, being composed of sticks with or without a lining of grass, leaves, moss, rushes, feathers, down, or, exceptionally, clay. Colonies are in most cases formed, but White Storks occupy separate sites on houses, farms, towers, or even cart-wheels purposely erected, and Black Storks breed apart in woods and precipitous gorges. On the other hand, more than thirty nests of Anastomus have been observed in one tree. The eggs, numbering from three to six, are white and chalky, and stain easily. Incubation lasts nearly four weeks. The adult inserts its bill into that of the helpless nestling to feed it, while the male attends constantly upon his sitting mate; we may, however, safely disregard the more fabulous instances of affection recorded.
Wood-Ibises are similar in habits, but they are more gregarious; and build smaller nests of twigs lined with moss, laying as many as eight white eggs, rarely streaked with pale brown.
Tantalus loculator, the "Wood-Ibis" of the warmer parts of America, is white, with metallic greenish-black remiges and rectrices, the bare head and upper neck being covered with dusky corrugated skin, and the crown with a smooth plate. The beak and feet are lead-coloured, the under wing-coverts pinkish. T. (Pseudotantalus) ibis of the Ethiopian Region has only the front of the head naked, but is rosy towards the upper and under wing-coverts, the smooth face and feet being red and the bill yellow. T. leucocephalus of the Indian and Indo-Chinese countries differs in its yellow face, while the Indo-Malay T. cinereus has it red and black.
Anastomus oscitans, the "Open-bill," another Indian and Indo-Chinese species, is white, with black scapulars, remiges, and rectrices, yellow bill and feet; the Ethiopian A. lamelligerus is metallic black varied by a little rufous, the shafts of the feathers of the fore-neck and lower parts in adults expanding into flat shining, horn-like plates at the tip. Leptoptilus dubius, the "Adjutant" of the Indian Region, is greenish-black above and white below, the fleshy-red head and neck being naked with a few hairs, and a white ruff surmounting the shoulders, while a huge ruddy pouch, communicating with the nasal cavity, hangs below the throat. The bill is greenish and the feet greyish, the former being yellowish and the latter black in the two following species. The Ethiopian L. crumenifer has the bare portions spotted with black; L. javanicus of Manchuria and the Indian Region has some white on the wing-coverts, yellow naked parts with a horny greenish crown, a line of hair on the nape, and a tuft on the fore-neck.
Fig. 29.–White Stork. Ciconia alba. × ⅒.
Mycteria americana, the "Jabiru," ranging from Texas to Argentina, is white, with black head, neck, bill, and feet; the naked head having a hairy patch on the occiput, and the bare neck a red distensible basal band. The Australian and Papuan M. (Xenorhynchus) australis is black with purple and green gloss, except the back and lower surface, which are white; the head and neck are feathered, the bill is black, the feet are red. The Indian M. indica is barely separable. M. (Ephippiorhynchus) senegalensis, the Ethiopian "Saddle-billed Stork," differs in having a triangular frontal shield of yellow skin, a naked crimson pectoral spot, a crimson bill with black median band, and black metatarsi with reddish joints. Dissura episcopus of the Indian and Ethiopian Regions is metallic black with white abdomen and under tail-coverts, downy white head and neck with black crown, reddish bill and feet. D. maguari of South America has the head and neck feathered, naked red lores and sides of the throat, white plumage with black wings and tail, yellowish bill and red feet.
Ciconia (Abdimia) abdimii of the Ethiopian Region is bronzy-black with white lower surface; the chin, membranous forehead, and tip of the bill being orange-red, the remainder of the bill greenish and the bare cheeks bluish. C. nigra, the Black Stork of British lists, is iridescent black, with white breast and belly, red bill, feet, and orbits; C. alba, the White Stork, a much more common visitor here, is white with black wings and orbits, red bill and feet. The former–reckoning for the irregular distribution characteristic of the Family–may be said to inhabit Europe, Palaearctic Asia, and North Africa, wintering southward to India and Cape Colony; the latter is more abundant within a like area, and is represented in East Siberia, China, and Japan by C. boyciana with black bill and red orbits.
The sexes in this group are similar; but when immature the whiter species are often more dusky, and the blacker species brownish, while the bill and legs may then be greenish instead of red, as in C. nigra, or the head and neck more feathered, as in Tantalus.
The Fossils referred to this Family are Propelargus of the Upper Eocene of France, Pelargodes, Tantalus, and possibly Leptoptilus of its Miocene; Amphipelargus of the Pliocene of Samos; Palaeociconia of the Plistocene of Brazil; Palaeopelargus and Xenorhynchus of that of Queensland.