Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/87

 THE WHITE OR HOUSE STORK.

The or  (Ciconia alba) has its plumage of a dirty white, with the exception of the quills and longest feathers on the wing-covers, which are black; the eye is brown; the beak bright, and the foot blood-red. This bird is forty-two inches long, and eighty-six across the wings; the wing measures twenty-five, and the tail ten inches. The female is somewhat smaller than her mate.

(Spenorhynchus Abdimii).

The White Stork, though common in many parts of Central Europe, is now but rarely seen in Great Britain, and is met with during its annual migrations as far south as 13° north latitude. The multitudes of these huge birds which arrive in Palestine at certain seasons, and at once distribute themselves over the whole land, is truly startling, whilst in winter not one is to be seen. "On the 25th of March," says Dr. Tristram, "vast flocks suddenly appeared steadily travelling northwards, and leaving large detachments on every plain and hill. From that period till about the 4th of May they kept possession of the whole land, except where the ground was utterly barren, abounding specially in any marshy plains. They did not congregate like rooks, but like sheep or cattle scattered over a wide pasture; they systematically quartered every acre of the country, probably until they had cleared