40 CICONIID-E CICONIA 



Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 729 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 

 297 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 

 303 (1898) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 267 ; Alexander, ibid, p. 441 ; 

 Beichenoiv, Vog. Afr. i, p. 346 (1901) ; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 574. 



Description. Adult male. General colour above dusky-brown to 

 black, glossed with metallic copper and green, the former strongly 

 predominating on the sides of the face and upper throat, the latter 

 round the neck and on the mantle ; below from the chest down- 

 wards, including the axillaries, white; under wing-coverts dusky 

 brown. Iris brown ; bill, naked skin round the orbit and of the 

 pouch, coral red ; legs and feet the same but darker in front of the 

 tarsus. 



Length about 46 ; wing 22-5 ; tail 9'75 ; culmen 7'0 ; tarsus 7-5 ; 

 middle toe and claw 3'5. The female is less glossy than the male, 

 and the orbital skin is lead coloured, not red. A young bird is 

 browner than the adult, with hardly any metallic gloss ; the head 

 and neck are pale brown, with whity- brown tips to the feathers. 



Distribution. The Black Stork has a somewhat wider distribu- 

 tion than its white cousin, as its range extends as far east as 

 Mongolia and Northern China. In winter it migrates south to 

 Africa and India. 



In South Africa it is a somewhat rare bird, and does not appear 

 to have been hitherto noticed in German South-west Africa. The 

 following are localities: Cape Colony Cape div., 'February and 

 Touws Eiver February (S. A. Mus.), Knysna and Nelspoort in Beau- 

 fort West (Layard), Port Elizabeth, fairly common (Brown), East 

 London (Wood), Port St. John's, once seen (Shortridge), Linokana in 

 Mafeking distr. (Holub) ; Natal Mooi Eiver, once seen in December 

 (Sparrow); Transvaal Potchefstroom, June, on one occasion 

 (Ayres), near Johannesburg, rare (Haagner), Pienaars Eiver (Pre- 

 toria Mus.) ; Ehodesia Soa Salt Lake on Victoria Falls road 

 (Holub), Mashonaland, rare (Marshall); Zambesi Eiver (Alexander). 

 Habits. The Black Stork is a more wary and less familiar bird 

 than the White Stork ; it is usually seen solitary or in small parties, 

 though occasionally, probably when migrating, it is met with in larger 

 flocks. It is fond of the mouths of tidal rivers along the coasts, 

 where it finds plenty of small fishes, frogs and crabs, but it also 

 feeds on insects in the drier country of the interior. 



This Stork is a visitor to South Africa only during the southern 

 summer, though Mr. Wood tells me he once came across one in 

 midwinter (i.e. June) ; it is not known to breed within our limits. 



