SPOONBILL, BOATBILL, STORKS. 



499 



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

 Like most other Birds of 

 the banks and shores, 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 

 Eastern Hemisphere, 

 and occasionally visits 

 Britain. The BoatUll 

 is a Bird of the shores 

 and marshes of Guiana, 

 Brazil, and other parts 

 of South America. In 

 the form of its bill, and FlG - 



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 



