Stork
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Stork. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in ornithology, any individual of the genus Ciconia, or of the sub-family Ciconiinæ. In form the storks resemble the herons, but are more robust, and have larger bills, shorter toes, with a non-serrated claw on the middle toe. They inhabit the vicinity of marshes and rivers, where they find an abundant supply of food, consisting of frogs, lizards, fishes, and even young birds. Storks are migratory, arriving from the S. at their breeding haunts in the early spring, and departing again in the autumn. The white or house stork, C. alba, which is common in many countries of Central Europe, constructs a large nest, most frequently on the chimney of a cottage. The plumage is dirty white, the quills and the longest feathers on the wing covers black; beak and feet red. The male is about 42 inches long, the female somewhat less. The black stork, C. nigra, from the center and E. of Europe, Asia, and Africa, has the upper surface black, the lower parts white. Storks are pro- INDIAN WOOD STORK previously tected by laws in some countries for to Charles their services in destroying small mampart in mals and reptiles, and in consuming the " Mug- offal. The wood - ibis, a sub - genus, is He was a found in waters of our Southern States. 1900, but was Heralds have adopted the stork as an of the Anti- emblem of piety and gratitude. He wrote "Life of He also contributed SHOE-BILLED STORK 106-
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a wading bird akin to the heron and the bittern. An American stork, frequently called the wood ibis, forty inches long, with greenish black wing covers and tail, breeds as far north as Kansas and New York . The stork of literature and the nursery is an Old World bird, breeding especially in Holland and as far north as Scandinavia. It winters south of the Mediterranean. The prophet Jeremiah says "The stork in the heaven knoweth the appointed time." The stork feeds in fens and lowlands on frogs, eels, small fishes, snakes, mice, and offal. In the Netherlands it destroys animals that weaken the dikes. It is protected by law. Many cities of the Low Countries encourage the stork as a public scavenger. The peasantry believe that a stork's nest on the house brings good luck. "The storks have brought a baby brother" or "a baby sister" is the pleasing announcement in a German household. Says Field: Last night the stork came stalking- And stork, beneath your wing Lay, lapped in dreamless slumber, The tiniest little thing; From Babyland out yonder Beside a silver sea You brought a priceless treasure, A gift to mine and me. The stork was well known in Palestine, being held as a clean bird. The psalmist says, "As for the stork, the fir trees are her house."
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The birds Collier's called Ciconia alba in 1921 are now Ciconia ciconia, and the "wood-ibis" of the Southern states is the wood stork, Mycteria americana, listed as endangered in the United States in 1984 and reclassified as threatened in 2014. Aiton's confidence in 1910 that the stork breeds "especially in Holland" did not survive the century: pesticides, drained wetlands and power lines wiped out the Dutch breeding population by the 1990s, and it exists today only because of a long captive-breeding and release programme, with a parallel reintroduction in southern England producing wild-hatched chicks in 2020. Satellite tags fitted since the 1990s have replaced guesswork about the autumn departure, showing the birds funnel over Gibraltar and the Bosporus to avoid long sea crossings, and that many now shortcut the journey by wintering on Iberian and North African rubbish tips. One creature pictured on the old page has left the family altogether: the shoe-billed stork is now placed in its own family, Balaenicipitidae, closer to pelicans than to Ciconia.
Written for this edition, 2026.