But no parts of the ostrich are so valuable as the _feathers_ of the wings and tail. These are divided into loose and silky filaments, and are most admired when plucked from the birds whilst alive. They are packed in bundles by the Arabs, who put them, large and small, good and bad, together for sale. In Europe they are used for female head-dresses; and for this purpose the shortest and lightest are most esteemed. The ostrich feathers that are imported into this country from the Cape of Good Hope are not considered so good as those which we receive from Barbary; they are of better colour, but not so perfect in the flue or feather, and are thin and irregular. There is a permanent tax of 1l. 15s. and a war tax of 11s. 8d. per pound on all ostrich feathers which are imported into England. Two, three, or sometimes four ostriches deposit their eggs, thirty or forty in number, in the same hollow place in the sand; and they do not, as is generally supposed, leave them entirely to the heat of the sun to be hatched. These birds are sometimes reared in a domestic state. ORDER V.--WADERS, OR GRALLÆ. 171. _The COMMON or WHITE STORK_ (Ardea ciconia) _is a bird distinguished by its strong and sharp red bill, its white plumage, and the orbits of the eyes and the quill feathers being black. The feathers of the breast are long and pendulous._ _This bird is upwards of three feet in length. It is found in every quarter of the world, except America; and, though rarely seen in England, is extremely common in Holland and some other parts of Europe. It is a bird of passage, and leaves Europe in the autumn for Egypt, Barbary, and some of the countries of Asia._ The Mahometans have the highest veneration for the stork; and any person would be held in abhorrence who attempted to kill or even to molest these birds. They frequent the streets of the most populous towns, where they devour offal and filth of almost every kind; and, in fenny countries, they are of great service by feeding upon noxious reptiles and insects. In ancient Thessaly it was a crime expiable only by death to kill one of them. Storks are easily tamed and rendered domestic, and may be trained to reside in gardens, which they soon clear of frogs, toads, and other reptiles. In a wild state they make their nests of sticks and dried plants, on lofty trees or the summits of rocks. The inhabitants of Holland frequently place boxes on their houses for them to build in. The _quills_ of the stork are large, and make excellent pens for writing with. 172. _The COMMON HERON_ (Ardea major, Fig. 41) _is a bird of the stork tribe, distinguished by the cinereous colour of its plumage, by the male having a long and pendent crest on the hind part of the head, the feathers of the neck long; and by having a double row of black spots on the neck._ _This bird, which is somewhat more than three feet in length, is common in most of the fenny parts of Great Britain._