THE WHITE STORK. 169 



All birds which are subject to great seasonal changes, or 

 changes from age, in their plumage, and which appear in the 

 country only as rare, or, as one may say, accidental wan- 

 derers, require to be examined with much caution, and de- 

 scribed with the greatest minuteness ; and the time at which 

 they are observed should also be carefully noted down. If 

 these circumstances be not duly attended to, there is much 

 danger of the same bird being multiplied into as many dif- 

 ferent species as the varieties of dress in w T hich it appears. 

 The hasty conclusion of one person may, in such case, mis- 

 lead a host of those provoking copyists, who, though they 

 can purloin, are altogether unable to correct, or even dis- 

 criminate, till the error extends so widely as to be all but 

 incurable; and the ardent but inexperienced inquirer is sent 

 in pursuit of that which cannot be found, as it does not exist 

 in nature. 



STORK (Ciconia). 



Birds of this genus, though they form a very interesting 

 feature in the ornithology of many countries, appear with us 

 only as stragglers ; but specimens, both of the black and the 

 white stork, have been seen in the country : and therefore, 

 though it belongs not to us to notice their manners as form- 

 ing a part of British natural history, we must record their 

 names among those birds which occasionally make their 

 appearance. 



THE WHITE STORK (ClCOnia alba). 



This bird has been met with in different parts of the south 

 of England, but never at any considerable distance from the 



Bonap.). which have hitherto been regarded as identical. Both species, 

 however, agree in habits and manners. The European species is abundant 

 in Hungary, and in the southern and eastern parts of Europe, and in 

 India and Asia generally; it is of rare occurrence in the north, and 

 merely an accidental visitant to our islands. M. 



