CICONIID/E. 



387 



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THE WHITE STORK. 



Cic6nia alba, Bechstein. 



It does not appear that the White Stork has ever been more than 

 an irregular wanderer to the British Islands ; and as long ago as 

 1544 Dr. William Turner, writing at Cologne, expressed his surprise 

 that a bird so common in Germany should be unknown in England. 

 Later, it was considered by Merrett, Willughby and Ray a very rare 

 visitor, but Sir Thomas Browne remarked on its occurrence in the fens 

 and marshes of Norfolk, where, from the proximity of Holland — in 

 which the species has long been protected — more examples have 

 been obtained than in all the rest of Great Britain. An adult 

 female, shot about May 17th 186 1 at Woodbastwick, contained an 

 egg ready for exclusion, which was cracked by the fall of the bird ; 

 and more than thirty specimens have been recorded from East 

 Anglia, chiefly in the spring. Several have been noticed from 

 Northamptonshire southward, and on April 23rd 1884 a flock of six 

 passed over the town of Newbury in Berkshire, flying m a north- 



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