178 BIEDS OP NORFOLK. 



piece, with the motto *^Pietas contenta lucraiur," bore 

 witness to the same, saying that storks **in Britannia 

 ignotas esse." Eay, too, in his "Synopsis" (1713), 

 asserts that the species " In littoribus nostris interdum 

 sed rarius cemitur; apud nos non nidificat" (p. 97). 

 Still, notwithstanding these old records, so fortu- 

 nately preserved to ns, I see no reason to suppose that, 

 as an accidental visitant, the stork was less frequently 

 met with on our coast, at that time, than it is now, 

 although fewer examples fell victims to their too con- 

 fiding nature, and many, most probably, passed wholly 

 unnoticed. It must, however, be always borne in mind 

 that the stork was but a stranger in the land, and not 

 an inhabitant as were the crane and the spoonbill.* 



Going back to the commencement of the present 

 century, we have ample evidence of its appearance in 

 this county, year after year, on its migratory course, and 

 more recent observations entirely confirm the statement 

 of Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, in 1846, that, " one or 

 two of these birds are generally killed in Norfolk every 

 year, generally during the spring months, and in the 

 vicinity of the eastern coast." Now and then, however, 

 a specimen is met with far inland, either storm-driven, 

 or, more often, seeking in vain to escape persecution. 



In Sir WiUiam Hooker's MS. I find the following 

 important notes, which are, in many points, confirmed 

 by the Messrs. Paget : — " A stork seen about Yarmouth 

 by Mr. Penrice and Mr. Bonfellow in the autumn of 

 1810 ; a pair seen at Burgh Castle during the months of 

 May and June, 1817, and at length shot in the beginning 



* The necessity of this remark will be seen, when we turn to 

 the last edition of Mr. Hewitson's well-known work (ii., p. 309), 

 wherein, after quoting a passage from Evelyn's " Diary," he puts 

 upon it a meaning it does not actually bear ; for, if taken according 

 to Mr. Hewitson's sense, it would equally imply that eagles bred 

 in Norfolk, which there is no reason to believe. 



