IV. Some Remarks on the Natural History of the Black Stork, for the first time captured in Great Britain. By George Montagu, Esq. F.L.S.
Read May 2, 1815.
ARDEA NIGRALinn.
Black Stork.
Most ornithological writers mention this bird as an European species, less common than the White Stork, and of a more solitary disposition. Its latitudinal range in its periodical migrations is apparently greater than that of the white species, since it is said to visit Russia and Siberia, and also to pass over Sweden in the spring in vast flocks, flying towards the extreme north, and soaring to so great a height as to appear no larger than a sparrow.
From innumerable observations it is evident that migrative birds are much more confined in their longitudinal range than in their latitudinal: hence it is that many species pass through France and Germany in the spring, and return in the autumn, which by no chance have as yet been ever observed to wander into this country, although they proceed much further north than any part of Britain. Others, from accidental causes of which we have no certain knowledge, occasionally vary a little from their natural course, and are found solitary in this country. Of this I have the pleasure of announcing an example in Ardea nigra, the only instance I believe of its being found at large in Great Britain.
