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shore of the Vistula. There are localities in this country where one or two Stork's nests are 

 seen on every building, besides several on the neighbouring trees. Fifteen years ago the Storks 

 must have met with a catastrophe during their passage, as they returned very much diminished 

 in numbers, since when they have been considerably less numerous than previously. The periods 

 of their migrations are very regular. The first arrive generally between the 19th and 25th of 

 March ; and in a few days all the pairs are at their nests. The 26th of August is about the time 

 when they usually leave the country, after having congregated in enormous bands ; but they do 

 not long remain thus, as the isolated adult individuals come and collect the young together and 

 conduct them away. The Stork is not found in the eastern parts of European Russia ; but the 

 exact limits of its range are not yet precisely ascertained. According to Professor Kessler it is 

 common in the districts of Kieff, and it is found in all parts of that Government, though con- 

 siderably more numerous in the southern part, and rarer as one advances towards the north. 

 They are most numerous in the Government of Podolsk." In the Baltic Provinces and through- 

 out Northern Germany the Stork is everywhere to be met with during the summer season, there, 

 as elsewhere, breeding in the villages, and building its huge nest on the houses or the roofs of 

 the farm-buildings. In Denmark, Mr. Benzon informs me, the Stork is " met with everywhere, 

 but is not so common now, since so many of the morasses are drained, as it used to be. It 

 arrives early in March or from then to April, or, when the weather is unfavourable, not until 

 the latter end of April ; thus the dates of its arrival may vary as much as thirty days. I have 

 never known it to arrive before the 8th of March, on which date, in 1871, it appeared on Hadsten 

 Enge, near Aarhus, on Jutland ; and the latest date of its arrival that I have on record is the 

 25th of April. The average date of its arrival is about the 3rd of April, during an average tem- 

 perature of 2-7° Cent. In the Duchies it is seen somewhat earlier; and, according to Boje, is 

 said to arrive from the 19th of February to the 9th of April; and in Belgium it arrives from the 

 17th of February to the 28th of March, the average temperature being 2 - 4° Cent. It leaves 

 Denmark late in August ; and only in case of a late brood do a pair or two remain as late as the 

 middle of September. Males and females appear to migrate separately, as the former arrive 

 about a week before the latter, in order to take possession of their old nest or seek for a suitable 

 spot for the purpose of nidification ; and in so doing the males often fight with such fierceness 

 as to result in the death of one or the other of the combatants." In Holland and Belgium it is 

 also tolerably numerous, arriving in February and March and leaving again in August; but, 

 according to Degland and Gerbe, it is now merely a bird of passage in France — which is not to 

 be wondered at, seeing that upwards of forty are recorded as having been killed in September 

 1833, between Gorze and Rezonville, and similar massacres would appear to have taken place in 

 Champagne. It formerly nested at Valenciennes, Douai, Cambrai, Bergues, and other places in 

 the north of France ; but having been persecuted, they have not returned for many years. In 

 Alsace and Lorraine, however, it would appear to better treated, and some remain to breed. 

 De Selys states that it passes through Belgium in April and at the end of August, but does not 

 nest there. In Savoy it is also a bird of passage in April and in early autumn, when according 

 to Bailly, the young are so much fatigued that they are slaughtered by wholesale — some gallant 

 sportsmen actually bagging six or eight at a shot, and winding up by knocking them down with 

 sticks. Under these circumstances there may be a lurking sarcasm in the statement that " their 



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