490 ARDEID^. 



surrounded by a naked skin. Legs long ; feet with four toes, tliree in front, 

 united by a membrane as far as the first joint. Wings rather large ; the fiist 

 quill-feather shorter than the second ; the third and fourth quill-feathers the 

 longest in the wing. 



In the days of Merrett, Willugliby, and Ray, the White 

 Stork was considered a very rare visiter to this country. Dr. 

 Turner even mentions that he had only seen it in confine- 

 ment ; but Sir Thomas Browne, writing at Norwich, says, 

 I have seen this bird in the fens, and some have been shot in 

 the marshes between this and Yarmouth. Bewick says that 

 Wallis, in his History of Northumberland, mentions one 

 which was killed near Chollerford Bridge, in the year 1766. 

 Its skin was nailed up against the wall of the inn at that 

 place, and drew crowds of people from the adjacent parts to 

 view it. In recent times, however, the occurrence of this 

 bird appears to have happened more frequently ; yet this, as 

 Mr. Selby observes, contrasted with the abundance in which 

 it is found on the opposite continental coast, in Holland and 

 France, is a remarkable instance of the laws which direct the 

 migrations of birds, and confine them within certain limits. 

 And this appears the more striking, when we know that its 

 northern or vernal migration extends to a much higher paral- 

 lel of northern latitude than our own. The winter-quarters 

 of the White Stork are the northern parts of Africa, and 

 more particularly Egypt, from whence it migrates in March 

 or April to France, Holland, Germany, Poland, and Russia. 

 Others, taking a more westerly direction, visit Sweden, and 

 even gain a high northern latitude in Scandinavia, returning 

 southward early in August. 



This species is said to have been killed in Ireland. Dr. 

 Edward Moore on the authority of Mr. Gosling, says, that 

 three birds have been obtained in Devonshire within the last 

 fifteen years. One was killed in Hampshire in 1808 by the 

 gamekeeper of John Guitton, Esq. of Little Park, near 



