THE NIGHT HERON. 417 



Lorraine, and on the banks of the Ehone. It passes the 

 day concealed among the thick foHage of trees and shrubs, 

 and feeds only by night. It builds its nests in trees, and 

 lays four or five eggs. 



THE WHITE STORK. 



CICONIA ALBA. 



General plumage white ; scapulars and wings black ; bill and feet red ; orbits 

 naked, black ; irides brown. Young birds have the wings tinged with brown 

 and the beak reddish black. Length three feet six inches. Eggs white tinged 

 with ochre. 



Sir Thomas Brown says, in liis " Account of Birds found 

 in iN'orfolk " : " The Ciconia, or Stork, I have seen in the 

 fens ; and some have been shot in the marshes between 

 this [jN'orwich] and Yarmouth." His contemporary, Wil- 

 lughby, says : — " The Stork is rarely seen in England ; 

 never, in fact, but when driven hither by the wind or 

 some accident. I have received from Dr. Thomas Brown, 

 the eminent naturalist, a figure drawn to the life, and a 

 short description of one which was captured in JN'orfolk.'' 

 Yarrell records instances of a few^ others which have been 

 killed, at distant intervals, in various parts of England ; 

 but the Stork is so rare a visitor with us, that I have no 

 scruple in referring my readers, for a full account of the 

 habits of so interesting a bird, to some more comprehensive 

 work on the subject. 



THE BLACK STOEK. 



CICONIA NIGRA. 



Upper plumage black, with gi-een and pui-ple reflections ; under white ; bill and 

 orbits red ; irides brown ; feet deep red. In young birds the bill, orbits, and 

 feet, are olive gi-een; and the upper plumage is tinged with rust-brown. Length 

 nearly three feet. Eggs dull white, tinged with green, and sometimes sparingly 

 spotted with brown. 



A STILL rarer visitor in Great Britain than the White 

 Stork, from w^hich it differs c[uite as much in habit as it 

 does in colour ; for whereas the one is eminently sociable 

 with birds of its own kind, and devoted in its attachment 



EE 



