and encouraged to remain and nest by the erection
of cart-wheels on poles, and boxes, and platforms
on house-tops, and, as stated in Yarrell, there are
many places in which the dwellers under roofs selected
as nesting-places by our bird are considered to be
exceptionally favoured by Providence. My own principal
acquaintance with the present species has been
formed and continued in Spain and European Turkey;
in the former country the Storks do not confine themselves
to the towns or villages for nesting, although in
Seville and Cordoba they nest on many of the church-
towers and other lofty edifices, but they have a special
liking for the huge wood- and straw-stacks that are often
to be found in close proximity to the farmsteads in the
open country, and also very frequently select an isolated
tree close to human habitations. In Epirus I noticed
that almost wherever a branching plane tree shaded the
frontage of a roadside “ khan,” it was occupied by a
pair of nesting Storks. I am not aware that these birds
are protected by the Law of Islam, but no follower of
the Prophet would willingly injure one of them, and I
was delighted to see a young Greek forced “ to eat a
wholesome quantity of stick ” for an attempt to steal
some Storks’ eggs under the eyes of a Turkish kadi.
The largest assemblage of Storks that I ever saw
was on May 1, 1872, in the great marshes of the lower
Guadalquivir; these birds gave me the impression of
having only just arrived in the country, but they are
frequently to be found nesting in Andalucia in March.
The White Stork is virtually omnivorous, and of very
great service to man by its destruction of locusts and
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 b ill: 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 ‘ Ornithology
of the Straits of Gibraltar.’