178 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
piece, with the motto “ Pietas contenta lucratur,” bore 
witness to the same, saying that storks “in Britannia 
ignotas esse.” Ray, too, in his “ Synopsis” (1718), 
asserts that the species “In littoribus nostris interdum 
sed rarius cernitur; apud nos non nidificat” (p. 97). 
Still, notwithstanding these old records, so fortu- 
nately preserved to us, 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 William 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. 
