STORKS AT KEW

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 7

STORKS AT KEW

The storks in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are always a source of interest to visitors, but particularly at nesting time. “ There have been storks in the Gardens since 1890, and possibly earlier,” says Sir Arthur Hill, the Director, in a letter to the ‘ Times,’ “ but it was not until 1902 that a pair of young birds was successfully reared. During the years 1903 to 1915 one or two young birds were reared almost every year, and in 1909 four were hatched. Some were given away to other institutions, one pair being sent to' the Royal Zoological Society, Dublin, in 1906. One year the young birds were not pinioned, in the hope that they might come back to Kew after their migration, but unfortunately they never returned. Since 1916 the storks have laid eggs once or twice, but, owing to being disturbed by visitors, no birds were hatched. “ Our original batch of storks —at one time (1910-1914) we had as many as seven in the Gardens—died out, and the present pair was acquired a few years ago. So far, however, they have not made a serious attempt to breed.”