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THE WHITE STORK. 
Ciconia alba. 
PLATE VII. 
Ciconia alba, Brisson. — Ardea alba, Linn. — Cicogne blanche, 
Temm — Common Stork, White Stork of British authors. 
In Europe, the Stork is a migratory bird, visiting it 
only during the season of incubation, seen upon our 
shores as a straggler, and in modern days, much 
more rarely than it even anciently seems to have 
occurred. In France, Holland, and Germany, the 
Stork is common during the breeding season, and 
being in these countries protected, it mixes fami- 
liarly with the noise and bustle of population, and 
incubates on the tops of the chimneys, on spires, 
or other elevated structures of the towns. Artifi- 
cial flat-topped erections are often put up for its use 
and convenience, and, in some parts, penalties are 
levied on its molestation. In no work, to which 
we have access, have we seen the natural breeding- 
places mentioned, for although they may in Europe 
congregate about towns and villages, we have little 
doubt that colonies will elsewhere exist, inhabiting, 
at the time of breeding, elevated rocks, or dead or 
