pies of this bird have occurred since. The first of these
three was shot on the Tamar in November 1831, and the
circumstance has been recorded by Dr. E. Moore in Devonshire,
and by Mr. Couch in Cornwall. Dr. Moore saw this
bird while warm, and it is now in the collection of Mr. Drew;
The second is recorded in the seventh volume of the Magazine
of Natural History, page 5 8 : it was shot in October
1832, in the parish of Otley, about eight miles from Ipswich.
The third is o f still more recent date; In reference
to this bird, I received two communications on the same day:
one from the Earl of Malmesbury, who had purchased the
specimen for his own collection at Heron- Court* near Christchurch,
and to whom I have the honour to acknowledge
my obligations for various interesting particulars of British
Birds 4 the other from my friend, William Thompson of
Lytchet, near Poole, but a short distance across the water
from the spot where the bird was obtained. This Black
Stork was shot in the Isle' of Purbeck by a- clay-boat man in
a marshy field on the banks of the Middleburg creek, at the
south side of Poole Harbour, on Friday the 22nd of November,
1839, and passed into the possession of a poulterer in
Poole, named Rogers, who from proximity to a spacious harbour,
the resort of numerous water-fowl, occasionally obtains
very rare specimens, and was in possession of a redently-
killed Glossy Ibis at the time the Black Stork was in hand
for preservation.
Colonel Montagu’s bird was captured by means of a slight
shot wound in the wing, whieh did not break the bone, and
the bird lived in his possession more than twelve months, !§
excellent health. I t was shot in West Sedge Moor, adjoining
the Parish of Stoke St. Gregory, Somersetshire, on the
13th of May, 1814; and what is remarkable, another very,
rare bird, the White Spoonbill, was shot on the same moor,,
by the same person, in November of the preceding year.
When first the Black Stork was observed, it was searching
for food by: the side of a drain, and when approached flew a
considerable distance's; but in a second attempt, the fowler
got sufficiently near to wound it slightly. I t made little
resistance, and on the following .day ate some eels that had
been placed near it. .
The habits of Colonel Montagu’s bird in confinement are
thus . related in the communication to the Linnean Society
that has already been referred to? •
. y,.Like the White Stork, it frequently rests upon one le g ;
and if alarmed, particularly by the approach of a dog, it makes
d considerable noise by reiterated snapping of the. bill, similar
to that species-,.It soon became docile, and would follow its
feeder for a favourite morsel,— an eel. When very.hungry
i t ; crouchesj- testing the whole length of the legs upon the
ground, and supplicantly seems to Solicit food by nodding
the- head, flapping itè unwieldy pinions, and forcibly blowing
the air from thé; lubgs with audible' expirations. Whenever
it is approached,- fhèi expulsion of air, accompanied by repeated
nodding of the head, is provoked. The bird is of a
mild and peaceful disposition, very unlike many of its congeners
; for it never .makes use of its.formidable bill offensively
against any of the companions of its prison, and even
submits peaceably to be taken up without much struggle.
From the manner in which it is> observed to search the grass
with its bill, there can be no doubt that reptiles form part of
its- natural-food; even mice, worms, and the larger insects,
probably add to: its usual repast.: When searching in thick
grass, or in the mud, for its prey, the bill is kept partly
open: ' by this means I have observed it take eels in a
pond .with great dexterity; no. spear, in common use for
taking that fish, can more effectually receive it between its
prongs than the grasp of the Stork’s open mandibles. A
small eel has no chance of escaping when once roused from