CICONIID. 387 
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—S: 
THE WHITE STORK. 
Cicén1a ALBA, Bechstein. 
It does not appear that the White Stork has ever been more than 
an irregular wanderer to the British Islands ; and as long ago as 
1544 Dr. William Turner, writing at Cologne, expressed his surprise 
that a bird so common in Germany should be unknown in England. 
Later, it was considered by Merrett, Willughby and Ray a very rare 
visitor, but Sir Thomas Browne remarked on its occurrence in the fens 
and marshes of Norfolk, where, from the proximity of Holland—in 
which the species has long been protected—more examples have 
been obtained than in all the rest of Great Britain. An adult 
female, shot about May 17th 1861 at Woodbastwick, contained an 
egg ready for exclusion, which was cracked by the fall of the bird ; 
and more than thirty specimens have been recorded from East 
Anglia, chiefly in the spring. Several have been noticed from 
Northamptonshire southward, and on April 23rd 1884 a flock of six 
passed over the town of Newbury in Berkshire, flying in a north- 
HH 2 
