408 Ardeidce. 



Am kong cheow, or ' Bird of Darkness,' is both propitiated and 

 protected. Our great authority on Chinese ornithology, Mr. 

 Swinhoe, has given an admirable account of the breeding of this 

 sacred bird in the fine old banyan trees in the courtyard in front 

 of the great Honam temple at Canton, where it is encouraged 

 and protected, and to his graphic description I would refer my 

 readers.* Nycticorax is strictly 'the night raven/ from w'f-f 

 Kopa% ; and griseus, 'gray' or 'grizzled.' Some of our older orni- 

 thologists used to call it the ' Night Raven/ and Bechstein 

 describes it under the name of Nacht Reiher ; not that it was 

 ever supposed to have any affinity with Corvus corax, but 

 simply by way of literal translation of the scientific name. The 

 young bird was for a long time considered a distinct species, and 

 was called A. Gardeni, and 'Gardenian Heron/ and 'Spotted 

 Heron/ the plumage of the immature bird being brown, covered 

 with light coloured spots, and resembling in no slight degree the 

 plumage of the immature Spotted Eagle, and of the immature 

 Gannet. In France it is Bihoreau d manteau noir ; in Italy, 

 Sgarza nitticora ; in Spain, Martinete. 



148. WHITE STORK (Ciconia alba). 



It is very sad that this bird, so ready to be familiar with 

 man, and which may be seen in Holland and Germany building 

 its nest on the roofs of houses, and meeting that encouragement 

 and protection which its confidence deserves, should be scared 

 away from England by the persecution it has met with here. 

 And yet the White Stork is not only harmless, but positively 

 useful, and acts the scavenger to perfection. In Scandinuvia, 

 we are informed by Mr. Lloydf that it is looked upon with 

 a kind of veneration similar to that entertained towards the 

 Swallow and Turtle-dove, because (so the legend runs) it flew 

 over the Redeemer at the Crucifixion, crying in a sympathising 

 tone, ' StyrJc, Styrk, Styrk Honom,' ' Strengthen, strengthen, 

 strengthen Him. 1 Hence it derived the name of Stork, and 



Ibis for 1861, pp. 53-56, and for 1863, pp. 423-425. 

 t ' Scandinavian Adventures/ vol. ii., p. 390. 



