STORK (Ciconia alba), a well-known bird, which is a summer visitor to most parts of the European continent, breeding from southern Sweden to Spain and Greece. It reappears again in Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkestan, but farther east it is replaced by C. boyciana, which reaches Japan. Though occa sionally using trees for the purpose, the stork generally places its nest on buildings, and is everywhere a cherished guest, popular belief ascribing good luck to the house to which it attaches itself. To consult its convenience a stage of some kind, often a cart wheel, is in many places set up. Its food, consisting mainly of frogs and insects, is gathered in marshes and pastures, across which it may be seen stalking with an air of quiet dignity; but in the pairing season it indulges in grotesque gestures—leaping from the ground with extended wings in a kind of dance, and, though voiceless, clattering its mandibles. Apart from its size—a stork stands more than 3ft. in height—its contrasted plumage of white and black, with its bright red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object. In winter the storks of Europe retire to
Africa—some of them reaching Cape Colony—while those of Asia visit India. A second species, with much the same range, is the black stork, C. nigra, of which the upper parts are black, brilliantly glossed with purple, copper and green, while it is white beneath, the bill, legs, and the bare skin round the eyes being red. The bird breeds in lofty trees. Two other dark-coloured species are the African C. abdimii and C. episcopus, which is found in Africa, India, Java, and Sumatra. The New World has only one true stork, Dissura maguari, which inhabits South America and re sembles C. boyciana, differing therefrom in its greenish-white bill and black tail. Both these species are very like C. alba, but are larger and have a bare patch of red skin round the eyes.
The storks form the family Ciconiidae, and, together with the ibises (q.v.), are ranked as a sub-order of Ciconiiform birds (see ORNITHOLOGY). In all the storks the eggs are white, and pitted with granular depressions.