BLACK STORK. 529 



CICONIA NIGRA. 

 BLACK STORK. 



(Plate 37.) 



Ciconia fusca, Briss. Om. v. p. 362 (1760). 



Ardea nigra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 235 (1766) ; et auctorum plurinioruin — {Tem- 



minck), (JDegland Sf Qerhe), {Naumann), (Dressei-), &c. 

 Ardea ckryaopelargus, Idcht. Cat. Rer. Nat. JRar. sp. 284 (1793). 

 Ciconia nigra (Linn,), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Src. Brit. Mus. p. 33 (1816). 

 Melanopelargus niger {Linn.), B^ichenh.Jide Bonap. Consp. ii. p. 105 (1857). 



The Black Stork is another of those birds for whose introduction into 

 the British list we are indebted to the industry of Colonel Montagu, who 

 described an example which was caught alive in May 1814 on West Sedge 

 Moor in Somersetshire (Mont. Trans. Linn. Soc. xii. p. 19). After that 

 date there is no record of the Black Stork having been obtained in this 

 country untU 1831, between which year and 1867 eleven examples are 

 recorded. Of these one occurred in Devonshire, one in Somerset, two in 

 Dorset, one in Oxfordshire, two in Kent, one in Suffolk, one in Norfolk, 

 and two in Yorkshire. There is no reliable evidence of its ever having 

 occurred in either Scotland or Ireland. Of the English occurrences two 

 were obtained in May, two in August, one in October, and two in November, 

 the dates of the others not being known. This bird must therefore be 

 regarded as an accidental straggler to England during spring and autumn 

 migration. It is probable that the less frequent occurrence of late years 

 of this and other accidental visitors is owing to the rapid increase of 

 population in Western Europe since the introduction of railways on the 

 continent. 



The Black Stork has a much wider range than the White Stork, being 

 found from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is a summer visitor to Europe, 

 formerly breeding in the principal forest-districts south of lat. 55°. It 

 has occurred twice in Norway, and still breeds in the extreme south of 

 Sweden. It has been exterminated during the breeding-season in many 

 parts of Europe, and is now only found on migration in France, Holland 

 and Belgium, and the greater part of Germany ; but it still breeds near 

 Hanover, in Pomerania, in the valley of the Danube, and in Spain. In 

 Italy and Greece it is only known as a spring and autumn migrant ; but it 

 breeds in South Russia, and is said to be a resident in the Caucasus. In 

 the valleys of the Volga and the Obb it occurs as far north as lat. 55° j 

 and is a regular summer migrant to the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal 

 and throughout the valley of the Amoor. It is said to have occurred ia 



VOL. II. 2 M 



