I t does not appear that the White Stork has ever been
more than an irregular visitor to the British Islands. So
long ago as 1544 Dr. William Turner, writing at Cologne,
expresses his surprise that a bird so common in Germany
should be unknown in Britain, except in captivity. By
Merrett, Willughby, and Ray, it was considered a very rare
visitor to this country ; but Sir Thomas Browne, writing at
Norwich, says, “ I have seen this bird in the fens, and
some have been shot in the marshes between this and
Yarmouth.” Wallis, in his ‘Natural History of Northumberland
’ (i. p. 336), mentions one which was killed near
Chollerford Bridge, in the year 1766, and its skin being
nailed up against the wall of the inn at that place, drew
crowds of people from the adjacent parts to view it. During
the present century, however, and probably in consequence
of the increased attention given to birds, a good many
occurrences have been recorded.
As might be expected, owing to the proximity of Holland,
where the White Stork is a regular and protected visitor,
this species has been more frequently observed in the eastern
counties than in other parts of our island. Messrs. Gurney
and Fisher point out that one or two of these birds are
generally killed in Norfolk every year, usually during the
spring months; and Mr. H. Stevenson has enumerated
twenty-three occurrences. An adult female, shot about the
17th May, 1861, at Woodbastwick, contained an egg quite
ready for exclusion, which was only slightly cracked on one
side by the fall of the bird. Several examples have also been
obtained or observed in Suffolk and Essex. Respecting
Lincolnshire, Mr. Cordeaux writes to the Editor, that in
an old map, mdcxxvi, of the Isle of Axholme, before the
drainage by Vermuyden, ‘ Stork-carres ’ are marked between
Haxey and Wroote, on the east bank of. the river Idle
(Idille); but it must be remembered that the term £ Stork ’
is not unfrequently applied to the Heron. In the Humber
district Mr. Cordeaux has only recorded a single adult bird,
shot near Witliernsea in September 1869; and Mr. W. E.
Clarke mentions seven other occurrences in various parts of
Yorkshire. In Nottinghamshire two have been killed on
the Trent. Mr. J. Hancock states that he observed one
over Prestwick Car, in Northumberland, in May 1866 ;
and one was shot at Scremerston on the 10th June,
1874. Northwards the visits of this species become rarer ;
the records comprising one in Berwickshire in 1848 ;
one in Forfarshire in 1835 ; one in Aberdeenshire in the
winter of 1837-38 ; one on South Ronaldshay, Orkney, in
1840; and two in the Shetlands. In the south, the late
Dr. Moore, on the authority of Mr. Gosling, says, that
three birds have been obtained in Devonshire ; and Mr.
Rodd mentions an adult killed in May 1848, in the Land’s
End district, in Cornwall. One was killed in Hampshire in
1808 by the gamekeeper of John Guitton, Esq., of Little
Park, near Wickham; and Mr. E. Hart informs the Editor
that he has one shot in Poole Harbour in July 1881. One
has been killed near Salisbury; and one, out of a flock of
four, was shot in Oxfordshire; but with regard to a bird
shot at the end of July 1883, in Hertfordshire, there is a
suspicion that it had escaped from Mr. H. D. Astley, of
Chequers Court, Tring; and this observation applies, in a
less degree, to a young bird shot in September 1882, in
Kent (c/. Zool. 1884, p. 195). Several have, however, been
previously killed in Kent ; and one so recently as the
end of August 1884, at Pevensey, in Sussex. Mr. R. A.
Yalpy, writing to ‘ The Field ’ under date of 3rd of May,
1884, says, “ On Wednesday evening, the 23rd ult., about
a quarter to seven, while standing on the new railway, about
three miles from the town of Newbury, we were surprised
to see a flock of six White Storks (Ciconia alba) pass close
to us, flying in a north-easterly direction. When first
observed they were flying directly towards us, about thirty
yards from the ground ” ; and on May 17th Mr. W. F. Hall
writes: “ With reference to Mr. R. A. Yalpy’s letter on
this subject, I beg to state I also witnessed the flight of
Storks which he described from the Enborne road, some few
yards from the rectory. They were then going in a northeasterly
direction.” It is possible that if merely unmolested,