STORK. ORALLATORES. CICONIA. 45 



BECHSTEIN, CUVIEE, TEMMINCK, and WAGLER, but only 

 to that group of which Ciconia alba may be considered the 

 type. The larger species, viz. Ciconia Marabou, Argdla, 

 Mycteria^ &c. seem to me possessed of characters sufficiently 

 distinct to warrant such a separation, a fact indeed admitted 

 by the necessity under which these authors have found them- 

 selves of subdividing their genus into sections. The Storks 

 are inhabitants of marshy districts, and are gregarious. In 

 many countries they are migratory, and their journeys are 

 performed in immense flocks. Their food is fish, reptiles, 

 small mammalia, young birds, &c., and their appetite is very 

 voracious. In most countries where they occur, they are 

 protected and highly esteemed by the inhabitants for their 

 utility in the destruction of noxious reptiles and vermin. 



WHITE OR COMMON STORK. 



CICONIA ALBA, Bellon. 



PLATE XI. 



Ciconia alba, Briss. Orn. 5. 365, 2. pi. 32 Rail, Syn. 97. A Shaw's Zool. 



11. 617. pi. 48 Wagler, Syst. Av. 1. sp. 8 Bechst, Naturg. Deut. 4. 82. 

 Ardea Ciconia, Linn. Syst. 1. 235. 7 Gmel. Syst. 1. 622 Lath. Ind. 2. 



676. 9. 



Cicogne blanche, Buff. Ois. ^. 253. t- 12 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. 2. 560. 

 Weisser Storch, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 2. 345 

 White Stork, Penn. Art. Zool. 2. 455 Will (Angl.) 286. pi. 52 Lath. 



Syn. 5. 49 Id. Sup. 234. Mont. Ornith. Diet, and Sup Shaw's Zool. 



11. 617. pi- 48 Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. 32 Flem. Br. Anim. 1. 96. 



sp. 10. 



THE rare occurrence of the Stork in Britain, contrasted JRare visi- 

 with the abundance in which it is found on the opposite con- 

 tinental coast, in Holland and France, is a remarkable in- 

 stance 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 polar, or vernal, mi- 

 gration extends to a higher parallel of northern latitude than 

 our own, as it regularly visits and breeds in Sweden, and 



