AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

811. Ciconia nigra

811. Black Stork.
CICONIA NIGRA.
Ciconia nigra (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 235 (1766) ; Naum. ix. p. 279, Taf. 229 ; Hewitson, ii. p. 319, pl. lxxxiv. fig. 2 ; Gould, B. of E. iv. pl. 284 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. iv. pl. 31 ; Dresser, vi. p. 309, pl. 406 ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 450 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvi. p. 303 ; Tacz. F. O. Sib. O. p. 975 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 369 ; Saunders, p. 389 ; Lilford, vii. p. 45, pl. 16.
Cigogne noir, French ; Cegonha preta, Portug. ; Ciguena negra, Span. ; Cigogna nera, Ital ; Schwarzer Storch, German ; Sort Stork, Dan. ; Svart Stork, Swed. ; Tschernoi Aist, Russ. ; Balazan, Arab. ; Surmai, Hindu.
Male ad. (Brunswick). Head, neck, back, wings, and tail black with metallic gloss ; lower breast and under parts white ; beak, naked skin round the eye and legs orange red ; iris reddish brown. Culmen 7.4, wing 21.1, tail 9.5, tarsus 7.5 inch. Female similar. The young have the upper parts browner and duller, most of the feathers tipped with dull white.
Hab. Temperate and southern Europe, becoming rare in the north up to southern Sweden ; of rare occurrence in Great Britain ; Africa, in winter as far south as the Cape Colony ; Asia north to the Lena, east to Mongolia and China.
In habits it is less sociable than C. alba and does not affect the neighbourhood of man, but frequents marshes in or near forests, generally far from human habitations. It is also far more shy and is not seen in flocks, even during passage, but singly or in pairs. It feeds on frogs, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and to some extent on insects. It breeds in forests, making a smaller nest than that of C. alba, of sticks lined with grass and moss, or it occasionally utilizes the deserted nest of some other large bird, and it sometimes nests in a cave or on a cliff. The eggs, 3 to 5 in number, are usually deposited late in May or early in June, and are white, resembling those of C. alba except that when held up to the light the inside of the blown egg is yellowish green ; in size they measure about 2.54 by 1.90.

BookTitle: 
A Manual Of Palaearctic Birds
Reference: 
Dresser, Henry Eeles. A Manual of Palaearctic Birds. Vol. 2. 1903.
Title in Book: 
811. Ciconia nigra
Book Author: 
H. E. Dresser
CatNo: 
811
Year: 
1903
Page No: 
581
Common name: 
Black Stork
M_ID: 
2069
M_CN: 
Black Stork
M_SN: 
Ciconia nigra
Volume: 
Vol. 2
Term name: 
id: 
10027

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