CICONIID^ CICONIA 37 



tide after small crabs and shell fish, on which it chiefly feeds ; it is 

 gregarious and not very shy, and the flesh is coarse. Mr. Short- 

 ridge observed a flock of six of these birds, which came down to 

 the St. Johns' Eiver in September, 1902, accompanied by a single 

 Black Stork. He tells me that they are known locally as the " Pied 

 Hadadah," and that they visit the St. Johns' Eiver regularly during 

 the winter. This species is not known to nest in South Africa, but 

 in the Shilluk country of the Upper Nile Antinori noted a breeding 

 place, in December. The nests were on low trees at some distance 

 apart from one another, and one of them contained two young in 

 down. 



Genus III. CICONIA. 



Type. 

 Ciconia, Briss. Orn. v, p. 361 (1760) C. alba. 



Bill straight, tapering and pointed, culmen shorter than the 

 tarsus, the tomiae or cutting edges of the mandibles meeting through- 

 out their length, and the angle at the gonys hardly marked, so that 

 the lower edge of the lower mandible is nearly straight ; head and 

 neck fully feathered except for a space surrounding the eye and a 

 small space on the throat ; tail-coverts, both upper and lower, normal, 

 rather long but not stiffened or elongated, or in any way resembling 

 the true rectrices ; tarsi long, more than twice the length of the 

 middle toe and covered with reticulate scales. 



Three species of this genus are generally recognised, two of 

 which visit South Africa during the southern summer months. The 

 range of the genus includes the whole of the Palsearctic, Ethiopian 

 and Indian regions. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Head, neck and upper back white C. alba, p. 37. 



B. Head, neck and upper back black, with metallic gloss C. nigra, p. 39. 



578. Ciconia alba. White Stork. 



Ardea ciconia, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766). 



Ciconia alba, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 220 [Natal] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 314 (1867) ; Ourney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 280 (1872) 

 Dresser, B. Eur. vi, p. 297, pi. 405 (1873) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104 

 Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 389; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 327 (1881) 

 Holub Sr PeUeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 286 (1882) ; Butler, Feilden ^ 



