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Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae. They are the only family in the order Ciconiiformes, which was once much larger and held a number of families. Storks dwell in many regions and tend to live in drier habitats than the closely related herons, spoonbills and ibises; they also lack the powder down that those groups use to clean off fish slime. Storks have no syrinx and are mute, giving no call; bill-clattering is an important mode of communication at the nest. Many species are migratory. Most storks eat frogs, fish, insects, earthworms, small birds and small mammals. There are nineteen living species of storks in six genera. Various terms are used to refer to groups of storks,〔(''About the Wood Stork: Denizens of the Wetlands'' ), Accessed on 13.12.2010〕 two frequently used ones being a ''muster'' of storks and a ''phalanx'' of storks. Storks tend to use soaring, gliding flight, which conserves energy. Soaring requires thermal air currents. Ottomar Anschütz's famous 1884 album of photographs of storks inspired the design of Otto Lilienthal's experimental gliders of the late nineteenth century. Storks are heavy, with wide wingspans: the marabou stork, with a wingspan of 3.2 metres (10.5 feet) and weight up to 8 kg (18 lbs), joins the Andean condor in having the widest wingspan of all living land birds. Their nests are often very large and may be used for many years. Some nests have been known to grow to over two metres (six feet) in diameter and about three metres (ten feet) in depth. Storks were once thought to be monogamous, but this is only partially true. They may change mates after migrations, and may migrate without a mate. Storks' size, serial monogamy, and faithfulness to an established nesting site contribute to their prominence in mythology and culture. ==Etymology== The Modern English word can be traced back to Proto-Germanic '' *sturkaz''. Nearly every Germanic language has a descendant of this proto-language word to indicate the (white) stork. Related names also occur in some Slavic languages, originating as Germanic loanwords. According to the ''New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', the Germanic root is probably related to the modern English "stark", in reference to the stiff or rigid posture of a European species, the white stork. A non-Germanic word linked to it may be Greek ''torgos'' ("vulture"). In some West Germanic languages cognate words of a different etymology exist, eg. 'ooievaar' in Dutch. They originate from '' *uda-faro'', ''uda'' being related to ''water'' meaning something like ''swamp'' or ''moist area'' and ''faro'' being related to ''fare''; so '' *uda-faro'' is something like ''he who walks in the swamp''. In later times this name got reanalysed as '' *ōdaboro'', ''ōda'' "fortune, wealth" + ''boro'' "bearer" meaning ''he who brings wealth'' adding to the myth of storks as maintainers of welfare and bringers of children. In Estonian, "stork" is ''toonekurg'', which is derived from ''toonela'' (underworld in Estonian folklore) + ''kurg'' (crane). It may seem not to make sense to associate the now-common white stork with death, but at the times storks were named, the now-rare black stork was probably the more common species. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stork」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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