CICONIA (Brisson). a genus of Birds belonging to the family Ardcidtr, and including the species popularly called Storks. The genus has the following charactere:—Bill long, straight, aubcylindri cal, in form of an elongated cone, pointed, trenchant, butt (nrate) rounded, of equal height with the head ; lower mandible a little curved upwards. Nostrils slit longitudinally in the horny aubetance of the bill, placed near the base. Ryes surrounded with a naked space, which does not communicate with the bill ; • the face, the space round the eyes, or a parka the sleek, often naked. Feet long ; three toes forward, united by n membrane up to the first joint, the posterior toe articulated on the same level with the others ' • nails short, depressed, without dentilatione. Wings moderate; the first quill shorter than the second, which is rather shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth, which are the longest. (Temtninek.) Temminck observes that the Storks live in marshes, and feed principally on reptiles, frogs and their spawn, as well as fishes, small mammiferous animals, and young birds. They are, in all the coun tries of the world where they occur, a privileged race on account of their utility and of the havoc they make among noxious animals. Their migration takes place in great flocks : they are easily tamed. The moult is autumnnL The, sexes do not differ. All the species make a clattering noise with their bills.
The species best known are the White Stork (Ciconia alba), and the Black Stork (C. nigra), both of which are British birds. We select the former as an example of that part of the genus which con sists of the Storks properly so called.
The White or Common. Stork is the neeaeryds of Aristotle and the Greeks; Ciconia of the Romans; Cicogna, Cicogna Bi anca, and Zigognia of the Italians ; C1C0g110 and Ci gogue Blanche or the French ; and Weisser Storch of the Germans.
C. alba (A rdca Ciconia, Montague), the White Stork, or Common Stork. It has the bill straight, smooth ; naked akin of the cheeks very small, and not communi cating with the bill. Plumage white. Ilead, neck, and all the parts of the body, pure white ; scapulars and the wings black ; bill and feet red ; naked skin around the eyes black ; iris brown. Length 3 feet 5 or 6 inches.
Young.—The tar ' nished black of the wings is tinged with brown in the young birds, and the bill of a reddish-black.
Habits, Food, Reproduction, Am—Assured by the kindness with which it is treated, in requital for its services in clearing the land of dead as well an living nuisances, the White Stork approaches the dwellings of man without fear. In Holland and Germany especially, the bird is treated as a welcome guest, and there, as indeed elsewhere, it annually returns to the neat which has cradled many generations, on the steeple, on the turret, on the false chimney that the Hollander has erected for its site, in the box, or on the platform which the German has placed for its use. The stump of a decayed tree is some
times chosen by the bird, and the nest is made of sticks and twigs, on which are laid from three to five cream•coloured or yellowish-white eggs, about the size of those of a goose. The incubation continues for a month, at the expiration of which period the young are hatched, and carefully attended to by the parents until they are fully feathered and able to procure food for themselves. Frogs, lizards, snakes, and other reptiles, mice, moles, worms, insects, eels, the young of ducks and other waterfowl occasionally, and even partridges, according to M. Temminek, are devoured by these birds. In the continental towns domesticated Storks, which have been taken from the nest when young, may be often seen parading about the markets, where they are kept as scavengers to clear the place of the entrails of fish and other offal, which they do to the satisfaction of their employers.
Geographical Distribution.—The arrival of the Stork in Europe takes place in the spring. In Seville it is very common ; but, accord ing to the Prince of Canino, it is very rare and only an accidental visitor near Rome. Though so common in Holland, it very rarely arrives in Britain. The general drainage of our marshes may have something to do with this, but is hardly sufficient to account for so striking a difference in the migratory distribution of the bird, more especially as it proceeds to higher latitudes; for it regularly visits Sweden and the north of Russia, and breeds there. The winter is passed by the bird in the more genial climates of Asia, and in the northern part of Africa, Egypt especially. Those who have seen these birds in the act of migration, speak of their numbers as very large : thus Belon remarks, that the Storks are never seen in flocks except when they are in the air; and he relates how, being at Abydos in the month of August, a great flight of Storks cams from the north, and when they reached the commencement of the Mediterranean Sea they there made many circuitous turns, and then dispersed into smaller companies. When Dr. Shaw was journeying over Mount Carmel he saw the annual migration of those which had quitted Egypt; and he states that each of the flocks was half a mile in breadth, and occupied three hours in passing over. They have been occasionally seen in considerable numbers in Great Britain, but the instances in which they have been killed are few.