SPOONBILL, BOATB1LL, STORKS. 



499 



sometimes in close bushes, and sometimes in tall annual herbage. 

 Like most other Birds of 

 the banks andshores, they 

 are migratory ; moving 

 in the direction of the 

 poles during the breeding 

 season ; and back again 

 towards the equator in 

 autumn. The White 

 Spoonbill is an inhabit- 

 ant of most parts of the f 

 Eastern Hemisphere, 

 and occasionally visits 

 Britain. The Boatlill 

 is a Bird of the shores 

 and marshes of Guiana, 

 Brazil, and other parts 

 of South America. In 

 the form of its bill, and 

 in its general habits, it closely resembles the Spoonbill ; but its 

 diet seems more restricted to fish. 



449. The Storks have long, straight, robust, and rather 

 conical bills ; their legs are long, and naked high above the 

 tarsal joint ; the fore toes are connected at the base by webs, 

 but the hind toe is placed higher. They frequent retired marshes 

 and borders of pools ; and feed upon frogs and other reptiles, 

 mice, worms, insects, and eels, with a voracious appetite. Their 

 habits are migratory ; and the range of countries through which 

 the same species, and even the same individual, is seen, is con- 

 sequently very great. Though rare in this country (probably on 

 account of the want of a congenial habitation), the Stork is very 

 common in Holland and Germany, where it approaches the 

 dwellings of Man without fear, and is treated as a welcome guest. 

 In many countries it is held sacred, on account of the benefit 

 it confers in the destruction of vermin ; and it even, like the 

 Vultures, cleanses the eastern cities of carrion and offal. It has 

 been well ascertained that, after a migration of many thousands 



Fio. 283. SPOONBILL. 



