P lace and
M a nne r s .
coverts, and quills, are black: the lkin, legs, and bare part of
the thighs, are red *.
Male and female much alike.
This familiar fpecies inhabits in turn the various parts of the
old continent; but avoiding alike the extremes of heat and
cold, being never met with between the tropics, nor fcarce ever
leen more north than Sweden, or in RuJJia beyond 50 degrees.
It never frequents Sibiria, though fometimes feen in Bucharia,
where it makes its neft; tending towards thefouthin autumn,-to
winter in Egypt. It has fcarce ever been met with in England f j
though it is well known, that in Lorrain and Alface, in France, as
well as in Holland, they every where build on the tops of the houfes,
and the good-natured inhabitants provide boxes for them to make
their nefts in ; this they not only do, but are particularly careful
that the birds fuffer no injury, refenting it as done to them-
felves. A t Bagdad Ives faw a neft of thefe, June 13, on a dome
of a decayed mofque j and fays that hundreds are to be feen on
every houfe, wall, and tree, quite tame J. At Perfepolis, or
Chilmanar, in Perjia, the remains of the pillars ferve them to
build on, “ every pillar having a neft of them ||.” They are common
at Aleppo % j and in plenty at Seville ** in Spain. Thought
to
The bill and legs are fometimes brown. Saline.— Such a variety I recoiled!
to have feen in the colledlion of that well-informed naturalili, Marmaduki
Tunflall, Efq; whofe liberal communications on Ornithology I beg leave to
acknowledge.
+ Two inftances only are on record: Willughby mentions one being lh.pt in
Norfolk; and Albin a fecond in Middlesex.
t Ives's Voy. p. 299, 307. II fryer's Trav. p. 251. § Ruffel Alep. p. 69,
** In the winter feafon Storksare very numerous m Seville-, almoft every tower
in
to have two broods in a year; the firft towards the north, the
latter one in the warmer places. Are feen in vaft flocks during
their migrations. Shaw faw three flights of them leaving Egypt,
paffing over mount Carmel, towards the north-eaft, in the
middle of April, each of them half a mile in breadth, and they
were three hours paffing over *. Said to remain the whole year
in Japan f , and, if I miftake not Hajfelquift £, at Alexandria
likewife.
The female makes a large neft, compofed of fticks ; and lays
from two to four eggs, which are o f a dirty yellowilh white, the
fize of thofe of a goofe, but a trifle longer.. The young are
hatched in a month, and at firft are brown : the male and female
faid to \yatch • them by turns, till they are fit to take care of
themfelves. The Stork fleeps on one leg, and fnaps with its bill
in a Angular manner ||. The food confifts of frogs, Jnakes', and
other reptiles : hence the veneration of all fefts for this ufeful
bird, which frees them from thefe pefts; added to the flelh being
in the city is peopled with them, and they return annually to the fame nefts.
They deftroy all the vermin on the tops of the houles, and peck up a great
number of fnakes ; fo that they are welcome guefts to the inhabitants, and
looked upon with particular veneration.— Dillon Trav. p. 308.
* Tram. p. 428.— Some perfons have fuppofed this to be the Ibis of the an-
tients, with full as good reafon as any other bird. It is certain that the Egyptians
embalmed the bodies of birds; and it is as certain that birds of the Stork
kind make a part of them. That in Ed-w. pi. 105, feems to be that of the Ibis
or Curlew genus.—-Compare Pococke Trav. i. pi. 64. G.
■ f Kampfer. J Voy* p. 9.
U In doing this the head is turned backwards, the upper part of the bill
placed on the rump, and the under, fet into the quickeft,motion, made to aft
on the other.—-Ives's Voy. p. 307.
H no