STORK. 



501 



Mr. White mentions having- heard their cry as early as the 27th of 

 February, 1788. It frequents open hilly situations, mostly large corn- 

 fields, heaths, or warrens. It makes no nest, but lays two eggs on the 

 bare ground ; these are of a light-brown colour, blotched and streaked 

 with dusky ; their weight about an ounce and a half ; their food is prin- 

 cipally insects and worms, but they are said to devour mice, frogs, and 

 toads. In the autumn they assemble in small flocks, preparatory to 

 their departure, and are seldom seen with us after the beginning of 

 October. We do not recollect having seen this bird in the north of 

 England, nor in the western counties further than Dorsetshire ; but it 

 is not uncommon in many of the southern and eastern parts. 



STONEGALL. — A name for the Kestrel. 



STONE PLOVER. — A name for the Red Godwit. 



STONE SMITH.— A name for the Chickstone. 



STORK (Ciconia alba, Belon.) 



Ardea Ciconia, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 235. 7. — Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 622. — Ran, Syn. p. 



97. A. 1.— Will. p. 210. t. 52 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 676. 9.— Briss. 5. p. 365. 



2. t. 32.— Ib. 8vo. 2. p. 305 — Ciconia alba, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 561.— 



Flem. Br. Anim. p. 97 Cicogne blanche, Buff. Ois. 7. p. 253. t. 12 White 



Stork, Arct. Zool. p. 455. C Will. (Angl.) p. 286. t. 52.—Albin, 2. t. 64.— 



Lath. Syn. 5. p. 47.— Ib. Supp. p. 234.— Lewins Br. Birds, 4. t. 144.— Wale. 



Syn. 2. t. 125 —Mont. Orn. Diet Ib, Supp.— Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. p. 32.— 



Wood, Zpol. Jour. 1. p. 519. 



A species about the size of a turkey. Length three feet three 



inches ; the bill is seven inches three-quarters long, of a fine red 



colour ; the plumage is wholly white, except some of the scapulars, the 



greater coverts, and quill feathers, which are black ; the orbits of the 



eyes are bare and blackish ; the skin, legs, and bare part of the thighs, 



are red. The sexes are alike. This bird is rarely met with in England. 



Several instances, however, are on record ; one was killed at Salisbury 



in February, 1790; and another was shot at Sandwich, in Kent, in the 



year 1805 ; unfortunately only the head and legs of this specimen 



were saved, and are now in our possession, giving a proof of the fact. 



Another Stork was shot in Hampshire, in the autumn of 1808, by the 



game-keeper belonging to Major Guiton. The Major had seen the 



.bird in the morning, and shot at it without effect, being at too great a 



distance; in the evening it was observed by the keeper, perched. upon 



the top of a house, where it was shot. The same bird, probably, had 



been noticed by some husbandmen several times for the preceding 



fortnight, contiguous to the place where it was shot. The Stork is 



a, bird of passage, covering a vast extent of territory in its annual 



migration from Persia and other parts of Asia and Africa, into the 



northern parts of Europe, as far as Sweden, and in the lower parts of 



