2s8 



HERON TRIBE 



grooves in the sides of the upper half of the long and stout beak, the 

 short tail, long wings and legs, in the latter of which the lower half 

 of the second segment is bare, the moderately long toes, of which the 

 three front ones are united at their bases b\' webs, the generally short, 

 blunt, and broad claws, and the six-sided scales covering the shank of 

 the leg. 



Since the two British representatives of the family belong to the 

 typical Ciconia, it will be unnecessary to point out in what respects 

 that genus differs from the other generic t\'pes ; and as regards the 

 present species, its red beak and legs, and its white plumage with 

 black wing-quills are amply sufficient to enable it to be recognised at 



a glance. The characteristics of the 

 nestlings and eggs of both this and 

 the next species need not, of course, 

 be mentioned in this work. 



The white stork, as the species is 

 called to distinguish it from its sable 

 relative, ranges over the greater 

 portion of Europe, Africa, and 

 western and Central Asia ; breeding 

 in the north temperate zone and 

 emigrating in winter southwards to 

 Africa and India. Holland is the 

 nearest country to England in which 

 storks breed, and there, owing to the 

 special protection and encouragement 

 ^,,,i,^ accorded to these birds, they nest, 



as is well known, on the house-tops, 

 and live, in fact, in a kind of semi-domesticated condition. There are 

 other districts where they follow the same practice ; but their natural 

 habit is to build large nests in trees, wherein the female lays from 

 three to five white eggs. The food of the stork is much the same as 

 that of the heron, comprising fish, reptiles, frogs, and insects. In India, 

 where they arrive in October and depart in March, storks are generally 

 seen in flocks on open plains. 



As already mentioned, the stork is most commonly seen in the 

 United Kingdom in the eastern and southern counties of England ; 

 and its visits there are too numerous to merit separate record. It 

 may be mentioned, however, that a specimen was shot in Norfolk so 

 recently as the summer of 1905, when flying in from the Wash; 

 while a second was killed in Glamorganshire in igo2. In Scotland 



