CICONIA ALBA 177 



Family CICONIIDyE. 



CICONIA CICONIA (Linnseus). 



WHITE STORK. 



Ardea ciconia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766). 



Ciconia alba, Malherbc, Cat. liais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 20 (1846) ; Loche, 



Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 124 (1867) ; Kocnig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 265 ; 



id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 79. 

 Ciconia ciconia, Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. p. 204 (1891) ; Slmrpc, Cat. 



Birds Brit. Miis. xxvi, p. 299, Erlangcr, J.f. 0. 1900, p. 41. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from North Tunisia. 



Entire plumage pure white, except the quills, primary coverts and 

 scapulars, which are black, and the outer webs of the secondaries, which 

 are washed with grey ; the bare space round the eye is black, as is that 

 at the base of the bill, though lower down on the chin it is reddish. 



Iris brown ; bill and feet coral red. 



Total length 44 inches, wing 24, culmen 8-25, tarsus 8-50. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



The young bird has the colouring of its plumage less pure, and its bill 

 and feet are blackish-red. 



The White Stork is not uncommon in North Tmiisia during the 

 spring and summer months, arriving as a rule, about the end of 

 February, and leaving again in September. A good many of the 

 birds breed in the north of the Eegency, although not in the large 

 numbers that they do further westward, particularly in the Province 

 of Constantine. In Central Tunisia the species occurs more sparingly 

 than it does in the better watered districts further north, and in 

 the south of the Eegency it appears to be seldom seen, and then only 

 on passage. In the Algerian Sahara, however, according to Canon 

 Tristram and Loche, it is to be found nesting in the M'Zab country. 

 In North Algeria the species is abundant in several localities, but 

 chiefly in the Province of Constantine. In the city of that name 

 considerable numbers of Storks breed, and in one part of the town 

 almost every house has a nest of the species. In Tunisia I have 

 never met with this bird in winter, but according to Taczanowski, 

 several isolated pairs were to be found wintering in Algeria in 186G. 



In Marocco the Stork is very abundant during the periods of 

 migration, arriving sometimes as early as January, and a good many 



12 VOL. II. 



