155 
STORKS. 
The Storks will naturally hold a place among the 
Ardeadce , hut their proper situation among them is 
yet a little uncertain ; they are aberrant in the form, 
and, with the next, run more into some rasorial 
families. The Storks, in the extended value of the 
term, as that of a group, will include all those very 
large birds belonging to India, South America, and 
New Holland, and known under the common names 
of Jabiru, Adjutant, &c., and they are mostly re- 
markable in the selection of some insulated eleva- 
tion for the position of their nests. These will form 
several genera, but the bird of Europe, the Ciconia 
alba, we shall consider as typical of the true Stork, 
or 
Ciconia. — Generic characters. — Bill lengthened, 
straight, very strong, sharp pointed; nostrils 
nearly basal, pierced in the horny substance of 
the bill, somewhat linear ; legs very long ; tibiae 
naked ; toes four, connected by a membrane, 
considerably developed between the outer and 
middle toe, the posterior toe short, articulated 
above the place of the • rest ; claws short, that 
of the middle toe not serrated ; tail compara- 
tively short ; wings long, third and fourth quills 
longest. 
Europe, Asia, Africa. 
Note — Often familiar ; breed on insulated eleva- 
tions. 
