STORKS 



307 



True Storks. 



sexes may be distinguished by a difference in size, while the colours of the young 

 are duller than those of the old birds. Storks, of which there are some twenty 

 species, have a world-wide distribution ; those inhabiting the northern regions of 

 the globe being migratory. They are all diurnal in their habits, and the only 

 sound they utter is produced by a sharp snapping of the beak. Extinct genera 

 carry the family back to the early part of the Miocene period. 



The true storks are characterised by their perfectly straight 

 sharp beaks, in the horny covering of which the nostrils are 

 perforated, by the webs of the front toes extending to their first joints, and by 

 the third, fourth, and fifth quills 

 being of nearly equal length. By 

 far the best known species is the 

 white stork (Ciconia alba), in 

 which the whole of the plumage, 

 with the exception of the black 

 greater wing-coverts and quills, is 

 pure white, the beak being red, 

 the bare space round the eye 

 black, the iris brown, and the foot 

 and leg red, with brown claws. 

 The whole length varies from 42 

 to 44 inches. With the exception 

 of the extreme north, the stork 

 ranges over the whole of Europe, 

 although not breeding every- 

 where, and being merely an 

 irregular visitor to the British 

 Islands. Eastwards its range 

 extends through Turkey and 



Persia to Central Asia and a great part of India, while in winter the bird 

 visits Northern Africa in large numbers. In France, where it is 'much per- 

 secuted, it is now only a passing visitor; but it breeds in large numbers in 

 Holland, Germany, and indeed over the greater part of Central and Eastern 

 Europe, where it enjoys protection on the part of the inhabitants. The stork 

 has become thoroughly habituated to human habitations and the presence of 

 man, by whom it is esteemed, not only on account of its value as a scavenger, 

 but likewise from its well-known fidelity to its young, which has become pro- 

 verbial. In Palestine, where they only exceptionally breed, storks make their 

 appearance at the latter part of March on their northern journey, while in 

 Holland and Denmark they generally arrive about the middle of April. They 

 arrive and depart (as shown in the illustration on p. 289) in immense flocks ; and 

 on their arrival spread themselves over the country in search of food, which 

 comprises small mammals and birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, etc. In most parts of 

 Europe the stork generally builds on chimneys, where boxes or other receptacles 

 for the nest are frequently placed for its accommodation ; and as it returns year 

 after year to the same spot, the nest, w T hich is originally a shallow structure of 



FURCULA OF STORK. 



