Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/601

 S T S T 577 the Handel Commemoration at "Westminster Abbey in 1791, retired from public life in 1808, and died August 24, 1817. During her stay in Vienna she married John Abraham Fisher, a celebrated violinist ; but he used her so cruelly that she refused to bear his name, and in her will bequeathing property to the amount of 50,000 styled herself "spinster." STORAX. It has been explained in INCENSE (vol. xii. p. 718) and LIQUIDAMBAR (vol. xiv. p. 687) that the storax of commerce and the pharmacopoeia (used as an emollient) is derived from the Oriental liquidambar tree. The storax of the ancients, on the other hand, a solid gum which does not now occur in commerce, appears to have been the product of the beautiful white-flowered shrub Styrax qfficinalis, which is still common on Carmel and elsewhere in Syria. It was much used as an incense, and formed an early and important article of Phoenician trade (see Movers, Phonizier, ii. 3. 101, 223 sq.). It is probable that the Greek word a-rvpag is of Semitic origin, represent- ing the Hebrew nv, which the English version renders " balm " (Lagarde, Mittheilungen, p. 234 sq.). STORK (A.S. Store ; Germ. Storch), the Ciconia alba of ornithology, and, through picture and story, one of the best known of foreign birds ; for, though often visiting Britain, it has never been a native or even inhabitant of the country. It is a summer-visitant to most parts of the European continent, the chief exceptions being France (where the native race has been destroyed), Italy, and Russia, breeding from southern Sweden to Spain and Greece, and being especially common in Poland. 1 It reappears again in Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia, and Turkestan, but further to the eastward it is replaced by an allied species, C. boyciana, which reaches Japan. Though occasionally using trees (as was most likely its original habit) for the purpose, the Stork most generally places its nest on buildings, 2 a fact familiar to travellers in Denmark, Holland, and Germany, and it is nearly everywhere a cherished guest, popular belief ascribing good luck to the house to which it attaches itself. 3 Its food, consisting mainly of frogs and insects, is gathered in the neighbouring pastures, across which it may be seen stalking with an air of quiet dignity ; but in the season of love it indulges in gestures which can only be called grotesque, leaping from the ground with extended wings in a kind of dance, and, absolutely voiceless as it is, making a loud noise by the clattering of its mandibles. At other times it may be seen gravely resting on one leg on an elevated place, thence to sweep aloft and circle with a slow and majestic flight. Apart from its considerable size, and a Stork stands more than three feet in height, its contrasted plumage of pure white and deep black, with its bright red bill and legs, makes it a conspicuous and beautiful object, especially when seen against the fresh green grass of a luxuriant meadow. In winter the Storks of Europe retire to Africa, some of them, it would seem, reaching the Cape Colony, while those of Asia visit India. A second species, with much the same range, but with none of its relative's domestic disposition, is the Black Stork, C. nigra, of which the upper parts are black, bril- liantly glossed with purple, copper, and green, while it is white beneath, the bill and legs, with a patch of bare skin round the eyes, being red. This bird breeds in lofty 1 In that country its numbers are said to have greatly diminished since about 1858, when a disastrous spring-storm overtook the home- ward-bound birds. The like is to be said of Holland since about 1860. 2 To consult its convenience a stage of some kind, often a cartwheel, is in many places set up and generally occupied by successive gener- ations of tenants. 3 Its common Dutch name is Ooijevaar, which can be traced through many forms (Koolmaun, JVorterb. d. Ostfries. Sprache, i. p. 8 sub wee "Adebar") to the old word Odtboro (" the bringer of good "). In countries where the Stork is abundant it enters largely into popular tales, songs, and proverbs, and from the days of JSsop has been a favourite in fable. trees, generally those growing in a large forest. Two other dark-coloured, but somewhat abnormal, species are the purely African C. abdimii, and the C. episcopus, which has a wider range, being found not only in Africa but in India, Java, and Sumatra. The New World has only one true Stork, C. maguari* which inhabits South America, and resembles not a little the C. boyciana above mentioned, differing therefrom in its greenish-white bill and black tail. Both these species are very like C. alba, but are larger, and have a bare patch of red skin round the eyes. The Storks form the Pelargi of Nitzsch, as separated by him from the Herons and the Ibises, but all three are united by Prof. Huxley in his group Pdargomorphse. The relations of the Storks to the Herons may be doubt- ful ; but there is no doubt that the former include the JABIRU (vol. xiii. p. 529) and its allies, as well as the curious genus Anastomus (with its lower mandible hol- lowed out so as only to meet the maxilla at the base and the tip), of which there are an African and an Asiatic species. Two other remarkable forms probably belong to the Pelargi. These are Halaeniceps rex and Scopus Shoe-Bill or Whale-Headed Stork. (After Wolf in Trans. Zool. Soc.) wnbretta, each the sole member of its own genus, and both from Africa. The former, first brought to Europe by Mr M. Parkyns from the White Nile, was regarded by Gould, who described it in the Zoological Proceedings (1851, pp. 1, 2, pi. xxxv.), as an abnormal Pelican. This view was disputed by Reinhardt (op. cit., 1860, p. 377), and wholly dispelled by Prof. Parker in the Zoological 4 This was formerly believed to have occurred in Europe, but errone ously. as was shewn by Schlegel (Rev. Critique, p. 104). XXII. - 73