Volume 4

Cassell's book of birds / From the text of Dr. Brehm. By Thomas Rymer Jones.

  • Alfred Brehm
Date:
[1869-1873?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cassell's book of birds / From the text of Dr. Brehm. By Thomas Rymer Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    85/348 page 67
    August the plumage of this bird displays its full beauty, and we may therefore infer that the period of incubation commences about September. River-banks, or the immediate vicinity of streams, tanks, and pools, are the localities it frequents, and in and about them it may be seen at morning and evening wading in search of fish, reptiles, and worms, or engaged in the capture of birds and small quadrupeds; about noon it resorts to the trees and sand-islands in large flocks, or takes its mid-day repose standing upright in shallow water. In all its movements the Tantalus closely resembles the Stork, but owing to its superior beauty of plumage, presents a more striking appearance when in the air. We are without any particulars respecting the nidification of this bird, but J erdon informs us that a nearly-allied Indian species breeds in societies, and forms large nests upon high trees; the three or four eggs have a white shell, faintly spotted with yellow. Bodinus states that this bird has the very peculiar habit of fishing for prey with the bill wide open, as though it expected its victims to enter its jaws without further trouble j according to the same authority it is by no means a greedy feeder, and quite undeserving of its German name of the “ Insatiable.” The TRUE STORKS (Ciconia) have a powerful broad-breasted body, rather long muscular neck, moderate-sized head, and a long conical beak, which has its margins turned decidedly inwards, and its entire surface covered with a horny coat. The legs are long and bare, and the toes short and broad; of these the centre and outer toe are connected as far as the first joint. The very long, broad, and rather blunt wings have the third, fourth, and fifth quills of equal length, and longer than the rest; the rounded tail is composed of twelve feathers, and the thick glossy plumage is of very uniform tint. These birds frequent the marshy districts of Europe, and seek their food principally on the banks of rivers, or in moist localities. Fishes, reptiles, and small birds constitute their ordinary fare; but they occasionally frequent dry open plains or cultivated grounds, in order to obtain grass- hoppers, to which they are extremely partial, and a variety of other insects. Their huge nest, composed of sticks and twigs, is placed on buildings and tree-stumps. Occasionally these enormous structures, which are employed and repaired by many succeeding generations, are said to attain a height of four or even six feet. The female alone carries on the work of incubation, although her mate shares in her proverbial attachment to the little family. “The Hebrew name for the Stork,” says Dr. Tristram, “is derived from a root signifying ‘kindness,’ from the devoted maternal and filial affection of which the Stork has in all ages been held to be the type and emblem. This maternal instinct implied in the Hebrew name is repeatedly noticed by Greek and Latin authors, who believed further that the young repaid the care of their parents, by tending them in old age, and, contrary to the habits of all other animals, attended them through life. Though we certainly have no proof of this rather pleasing conceit, the devotion of the old birds to their offspring is very strongly displayed, and has been corroborated by modern observation. The Stork has a very ardent attachment to certain localities, and nothing but unremitting persecution can drive it from a spot which has once been selected for a nest. Year after year — indeed, generation after generation—a pair of birds return every spring to the same place, and either rebuild or thoroughly repair their old nest. If any accident happen to one of the pair, its place is speedily supplied, and the succession of tenants maintained. The only instance of a breeding-place having been deserted which ever fell under my own observation was under curious circumstances. On the highest point of a large mass of ruin, at Rabbath Ammon, were the remains of a deserted pile of sticks, an old Storks’ nest. One of the birds had got its leg entangled and broken in a chink of the ruin, where it had perished miserably, and its gaunt skeleton, with the pinion-feathers still remaining on the wing-bones, swayed to and fro suspended in mid-air, and had effectually scared all its fellows from the spot.”
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