STORKS, a family (Ciconiide) of wading.. birds of the order Herodiones. In this family the bill is very stout at the base, longer than the head, usually straight but occasionally curved either up or down. The nostrils are remark able in being entirely unprotected either by a scale or bristles; they are placed close to the base of the bill and perforate its horny sheath directly, not being even sunk in a groove. The hallux is placed on a level with the other toes which are either moderately or considerably elongated and terminate in a more or less flat, broad claw. The general aspect of these birds is somewhat heron-like but they lack all of the grace of those birds, being of rather heavy build and clumsy action. To this family belong the true storks, the jabirus and the wood ibises, the latter being quite distinct from the true ibises. True storks form the subfamily Ciconine and, 'with the exception of the closely related American jabirus, are confined to the warmer parts of the Old World, where about six genera occur. The white stork (Ciconia alba), which during some portion of the year is found in most parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, is the celebrated 'bird of German and Dutch story and folklore, and familiar from the pictures in children's Christmas books of German manufacture. In its domesticity and love of human habitations as nesting-sites it departs widely from the solitary, retiring habit of most of its kindred; but in other respects it is thoroughly a stork, feeding upon frogs, small fishes, mice and insects, which are cap tured in the marshes and meadows; sleeping during the heat of the day often with one foot drawn up and the bill lying on the breast; becoming active at dusk and in the cool of the morning; voiceless but producing a clattering noise with its bill; during the mating season indulging in dances and other queer stiff-legged antics; and on the approach of cold weather migrating to Africa. They fly in pairs or small flocks at a great height and with their long legs stretched out straight behind. A stork's nest on the house-top is the best of good omens and as the birds are undisturbed they re turn year after year to add to the huge struc ture of sticks and raise another callow brood. Other species of the same genus inhabit Europe, Asia and Africa, but they breed on rocky cliffs or tall trees and shun human habitations. The adjutant (Leproptilus dubius) of India is another semi-domesticated species which acts as a scavenger and feeds largely upon carrion.
A very peculiar Indian stork is the open-bill (q.v.) in which the mandibles do not com pletely close. Its food consists largely of mus sels. But two species (Dissura rnaguari and Mycteria americana) inhabit America, the last only, the jabiru, entering occasionally the south ernmost United States. It is a large bird, standing more than four feet high, with a huge, massive bill more than a foot long, the head and neck bare and black except for a bright red zone on the lower part of the latter; the plumage is entirely white. The young are largely grayish. Along the seacoast and about the mouths of some of the rivers of tropical South America this bird is very abundant. Be sides capturing living reptiles, frogs, etc., it feeds upon carrion and has a curious habit of probing the mud with its bill in search of worms and larva. Its nest, a platform of sticks, is built in tall trees and two dull green eggs more than three inches long are laid. When angered or excited the crop is inflated beneath the red skin of the throat which swells out like a huge ball of a most threatening aspect. The wood ibises form the subfamily Tantalinee, distin guished from the true storks chiefly by the strongly decurved bill and longer claws. Tanta lus is generally considered to be the only genus, with species in tropical Africa, India and the Malayan Islands, and the American T. locidator which inhabits the entire South American con tinent and the southern United States, occasion ally straying northward to Pennsylvania and New York. Except that it is gregarious, espe cially when breeding, its habits are stork-like. In the Southern States the wood ibis is resident in thickly wooded swamps, along the seashore, rivers and bayous where it is extremely abun dant in many places. In Florida, however, it is said to be more solitary. When feeding it rakes the bottom with its hooked bill and captures the small fishes, worms, mollusks and crustaceans thus disturbed; in fresh water it captures especially crayfish and batrachians, and on land snakes, lizards and rats. The two or three eggs are dull white. The stork is the omen of births, and <(to receive a visit from the stork) means to have a new baby in the family. Con sult 'Newton Dictionary of Birds> (London 1896) ; Gubernates, 'Zoological Mythology> (New York 1872) Baird, Brewer and Ridg way, 'North American Water (Vol. Boston 1884).