46 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



GROUP OF STORKS 



Storks. 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, SMITHSONIAN 

 INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



WE find notj^pical Storks in our United 

 States avifauna; and, indeed, of all 

 New World Stork-like forms the 

 bird which alone belongs to that 

 genus is the Ciconia viaguari of South 

 America. To find and stud}' in their native 

 haunts the true Ciconine types we must 

 turn to the continents of Europe, Asia and 

 Africa, and some of their ofi"-li'ing islands. 

 In the central parts ot Europe, for example, 

 especially in Holland, Germany and Po- 

 land, there is no bird better known to 

 everybody than the White Stork {C. alba), 

 and for a<i;es back it has been the subject of 

 volumes of stories, and probably many, 

 many thousands of pictures. Sometimes 

 these birds resort to trees to build, but in 

 the localities just mentioned it is the very 

 rare exception, for, as is well known, they 

 most frequently construct their great bulky 

 nests on the tops of buildings. This prac- 

 tice is encouraf^ed by the inmates, for to 

 have a Stork select such a place is always 

 deemed by them to be a token of good for- 

 tune. vSo very often the people build a 

 kind of staging, or use a cartwheel for the 



purpose, placing it above the house, to in- 

 duce a pair of Storks to select it as a site 

 for their nest. And it is truly beautiful to 

 see a pair of these elegant birds return to 

 their ancient home in the spring, and notice 

 the delight they evince in putting the old 

 place in order to rear their young and 

 spend the season. They have no fear of 

 man whatever, so accustomed have they 

 been to his near presence for so many gen- 

 erations. When feeding they fly from the 

 house-tops to the meadows or marshy 

 places, where they capture insects, frogs 

 small mammals (as mice), fish and reptiles. 

 In many places they are great destroyers of 

 vermin of all kinds, or even garbage, and 

 in this way are direct benefactors of man 

 I do not know that the attempt has ever 

 been made, but it strikes me that the White 

 vStork would be a most desirable bird to 

 introduce into this country with the view of 

 having it build in towns as it does in Hol- 

 land and Germany. Moreover, they would 

 take after the Ivnglish Sparrows, devouring 

 their young where the nests of the latter 

 happened to be accessible to them, for it is 

 known that Storks will eat young birds if 

 they get the chance. With their red bills 

 and legs and their fine black-and-white 

 plumages, they are remarkably handsome 



