WHITE STORK. LUG 
CICONIA ALBA, Bechstein. 
WHITE STORK. 
*“Ciconia raro huc advolat,” wrote Sir Thomas 
Browne,* in a letter to Dr. Merrett, in 1668, quoting, 
indeed, the latter’s own words,+ but adding, “I have 
seen two in a watery marsh, eight miles off [Norwich] ; 
another shot, whose case is yet to be seen.” Again, 
in his “ Account of birds found in Norfolk,” he speaks 
of having seen the “Ciconia, or Stork, in the fens, 
and some have been shot in the marshes between this 
[Norwich] and Yarmouth;” whilst Willughby, in his 
“Ornithology,” expresses his obligation to his “hon- 
oured friend,” Sir Thomas, for “a picture of one of these 
birds, taken on the coast of Norfolk, drawn by the 
life, with a short description of it,’ which specimen, in 
confinement,{ “readily eat frogs and land-snails, but 
refused toads.” ‘Turner years before (1544) had stated 
“ Ciconia, ut Germanis auis est notissima, ita Britannis 
meis plerisque omnibus tam ignota est, quam que om- 
nium ignotissima. Nec mirum, quum nusquam in insula 
nostra nisi captiua Ciconia uideatur ;” and Jonston, 
whose work|| bears a figure of this bird on its frontis- 
* See Wilkin’s Ed. of Sir Thomas Browne’s works, vol. i., p. 398. 
+ “Pinax Rerum Naturalium Britannicarum.” Londini: 
MDCLXVII., p. 181. 
t The following occurs in the “Extracts from Sir T. Browne’s 
Common Place Books” (vol. iv., p. 399), amongst other “ empirical” 
remedies for gout suggested for trial by the learned doctor to 
some querulous friend “ unsatisfied with the many rational medi- 
cines.” “Since you find no benefit in the noble plasters of the 
Duke of Wirtemberg, of King James, and of Charles the Fifth, 
try the empl. ciconie made up of stercus ciconie.” We are not 
told, however, whether the patient was actually supplied with this 
precious ointment, from the captive stork in Sir Thomas’s garden. 
|| “Historia Naturalis de Auibys Libri vi.’ Francofurti ad 
Meenum: M.D.C.L. ~ 
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