THE OCCURRENCE OF THE WHITE STORK. 133
floating at the surface, the body below the oesophagus apparently
completely filled with small globular bodies of a pearly appear-
ance, looking not unlike ova, but which were possibly air or gas
bubbles. On being touched the animal did not contract but still
remained floating. On the 14th I found it again on the bottom
with no sign of the globular bodies. It was then 12 mm. in
length. Since it made no effort to make a tube of the small sand
grains in the cell I transferred it on 20th August to a round glass
dish partly filled with very soft mud from the Zostera beds. It
remained on the surface for a couple of days, and then buried
itself just below the surface—horizontally—with its tentacles just
above the soil. I fed it with both clitellum of worms and liver
of Litorina; it was very active, disappearing into its burrow on
the slightest vibration.
On the 27th August it had apparently disappeared and
stirring up the mud failed to produce evidence of its presence,
but nevertheless after three days' submergence in mud, it is still,
30th August, 1938, alive and hungry.
THE OCCURRENCE OF THE WHITE STORK
(CICONIA C. CICONIA) IN ESSEX.
By WILLIAM E. GLEGG, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.
(With One Plate.)
THE White Stork, although it is a common summer-resident
over a large part of Europe from Sweden to Spain, appears
only on rare occasions in the British Isles during the course of its
migrations to and from its breeding quarters. East Anglia, with
over thirty occurrences, has received more visits than any other
part of Britain and several others have been made in the southern
half of England, but very rarely in the west. Most of the Storks
which have visited Britain have appeared in spring. In spite
of the rarity of this species in this country there is evidence to
show, although it is a long time ago, that it has bred once in
Britain. It has been gleaned from an ancient work that a pair of
Storks appeared and nested on the top of the church of St. Giles
of Edinburgh in the year 1416. The date of arrival of these birds
varies in a marked manner in different parts of the breeding area