39 



Family CICONIDXE. 



WHITE STORK. Ciconia alba (Bechstein). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 30 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vi, pi. 405 ; Lilford, 

 1 Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 15. 



This fine-looking bird, so familiar a feature in our 

 Zoological Gardens, is but a rare and uncertain visitor, 

 chiefly in spring and autumn to the British Isles. East 

 Anglia has furnished us with by far the most records 

 over thirty in number and this is as we should expect 

 on account of the proximity of that part of England to 

 Holland, where the bird is common. On the west side 

 of Great Britain the White Stork is very rare. Among 

 recent occurrences may be mentioned a flock of six which 

 were seen flying over the town of Newbury in Berkshire, 

 on April 23rd, 1884 (Saunders), also a tired-out individual 

 which was seen resting on a house-top at Great Yarmouth, 

 on June 26th, 1892 (A. Patterson, ' Zoologist,' 1900, p. 

 414). 



In Scotland the White Stork has very seldom been 

 procured or even observed, but it has wandered to the 

 north of that country, for in July, 1865, two were taken 

 in the Shetlands (Harting). 



To Ireland its visits are very exceptional. In compara- 

 tively recent times only three examples have been obtained. 

 One was taken near Fermoy, co. Cork, about the end of May, 

 1846 (Thompson, Nat. Hist. Ireland, vol. ii, p. 175). It is 

 preserved in the Queen's College Museum, Cork. In the 

 autumn of the same year another was obtained near the 

 sea-shore of Wexford (Waiters, 'Birds of Ireland,' p. 138). 

 A third was taken near Hop Island on the Kiver Lee, 

 co. Cork, on August 7th, 1866 (Hackett, ' Field,' September 

 22nd, 1866). 



Mr. J. W. Young states that he saw a White Stork on 

 the wing between Athy and Stradbally, in the Barrow 

 Valley, on April 20th, 1895 (Ussher, 'Birds of Ireland/ 

 p. 170). 



