STORK (A. S. store, Ger. Storch)

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 968 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: STE-SUS

STORK (A. S. store, Ger. Storch) , the Ciconia alba of ornithology, a well-known bird, which, however, though often visiting
Britain, has never been a native or even inhabitant of that country. It is a summer visitor to most parts of the European continentthe

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

exceptions being France (where the native race has been destroyed), Italy and Russiabreeding from southern Sweden to Spain and

Greece

GREECE

, and being especially common in Poland.' It reappears again in

Asia

ASIA

Minor

, the Caucasus, Persia and Turkestan, but farther to the eastward it is replaced by an allied species, C. boyciana, which reaches Japan. Though occasionally using trees (as was most likely its

original

ORIGINAL

habit) for the purpose, the stork most generally places its nest on buildings,2 a fact familiar to travellers in Den-mark, Holland and Germany, and it is nearly everywhere a cherished guest, popular belief ascribing good luck to the

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

to which it attaches itself.3 Its food, consisting mainly of frogs and insects, is gathered in the neighbouring pastures, across which it may be seen stalking with an air of quiet dignity; but in the season of love it indulges in gestures which can only be called grotesqueleaping from the ground with extended wings in a kind of dance, and, absolutely voiceless as it is, making a loud noise by the clattering of its mandibles. At other times it may be seen gravely resting on one leg on an elevated place, thence to sweep aloft and circle with a slow and majestic flight. Apart from its considerable sizeand a stork stands more than three feet in heightits contrasted plumage of pure white and deep black, with its

bright

BRIGHT, JOHN (1811-188g)
BRIGHT, SIR CHARLES TILSTON

red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object, especially when seen against the fresh green grass of a luxuriant meadow. In winter the storks of Europe retire to Africasome of them, it would seem, reaching Cape Colonywhile those of

Asia

ASIA

visit India. A second species, with much the same range, but with none of its relative's domestic disposition, is the black stork, C. nigra, of which the upper parts are black, brilliantly glossed with purple, copper and green, while it is white beneaththe bill and legs, with a patch of bare skin round the eyes, being red. The bird breeds in lofty trees, generally those growing in a large forest. Two other dark-coloured, but somewhat abnormal, species are the purely

African

AFRICAN

C. abdimii and the C. episcopus, which has a wider range, being found not only in Africa but in India, Java and Sumatra. The New World has only one true stork, D.issura maguari, which inhabits

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

America, and resembles not. a little the. C. boyciana above mentioned, 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 (Ibididae) are now ranked as a sub-order of Ciconiiform birds (see BIRD). There is no doubt that they include. the jabiru (q.v.) and its allies, as well as the curious genus Aiiastomus (known in India as the open-bill," because its lower 'mandible is hollowed out so as only to meet the maxilla at the base and the tip), of which there are an

African

AFRICAN

and an Asiatic species. In all the storks the eggs are white and pitted with granular depressions. (A. N.)

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