Though the nest appears to be generally placed upon buildings, it is, when these fail, built in trees, and the selection of such sites must be regarded as representing the original practice of the species.
The stork is one of the very few birds which appear to be quite dumb. It supplies the want of a voice by a very remarkable clapping noise made by the long, horny beak. But even this noise is rarely made, and appears to be prompted by unusual excitement. "During the breeding-season," Mr. Howard Saunders tells us, "storks keep up a clappering with their bills, and this sound may frequently be heard proceeding from a number of birds circling in the air at such a height as to be almost invisible."
The affection displayed by storks for their young is proverbial. They feed them by thrusting their beaks down into the gaping little mouths, and injecting the half-digested remains of their last meal, which may represent reptile, frog, or fish, varied by a small mammal, young bird, worms, or insects.
The white stork is a really beautiful bird. Except the quill- and some of the smaller wing-feathers, which are black, the plumage is snow-white, whilst the bill and the legs are bright red. Like the swallow, it performs extensive migrations, travelling in flocks, numbering many thousands, at an immense height.
Scarcely less beautiful is the Black Stork, and, like its white-plumaged ally, it is also an occasional visitant to Britain. It is a handsome bird, having the plumage of the upper-parts black, richly glossed with purple, copper, and green; the under-parts pure white; and the legs and beak red. But it is far less sociable, and consequently less known, than the white stork, shunning the haunts of men, and seeking seclusion for its nest in the lofty trees of large forests.
By permission of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, Tring.
WHALE-HEADED STORK.
A rare species, remarkable for the huge size of the beak.
