ALBERT

Description: The results of a complete census of the breeding population of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) in the Netherlands, carried out in the year 1950 by the State Forestry Service, have been published by M\xc3\x96RZER BRUIJNS and BRAAKSMA in Beaufortia 5, Nr. 45, April 15, 1955, p. 23\xe2\x80\x9442.\nA new census was performed during the year 1955 ; it is the intention to repeat the census from now on every year.\nThe results of the last census are even more alarming than those from 1950 (see table, p. 113). The number of occupied nests decreased from 83 nests in 1950 to 58 nests in 1955. The number of fledged young decreased from 195 in 1950 to 96 in 1955. Many nests, still occupied in 1950, were either in a state that they could no longer be used or they had vanished altogether in 1955. On the other hand some new nests have been erected in recent time, some of them yielding good breeding results. The data have been arranged in tables according to the provinces. Every nest is numbered. The numbers of the 1950 census are given in parentheses. Nests marked + means that the nest was occupied by a pair of birds, but that no young were fledged. Nests marked \xe2\x80\x94 means that the nest was not inhabited, or that it was visited irregularly or else occupied by one solitary bird. The number of young fledged is marked by a figure. A gale in the spring of 1955 destroyed 4 nests ; 12 eggs got lost.\nFighting was reported frequently, the unfortunate result being that 3 young storks and at least 37 eggs got lost. These figures probably indicate that at present an insufficient number of nesting sites is avaible in the Netherlands. Therefore it seems worth while to try to erect new nests in localities where fighting has been frequently reported, and to repair those nests that have been visited, but remained unoccupied, owing to the poor state of the nest. In this connection Mr. W. DRIESSEN got most remarkable results with a newly erected nest, made according to a special method. This method should be used for the nests which we hope can be erected or repaired before the new breeding season. Surely the alarming decrease of the White Stork in the Netherlands is not primarily caused by housing problems, but a more appropriate condition and a greater number of nesting sites probably helps to prevent the yearly destruction of perhaps ten or twenty eggs or chicks.\nPhotomechanical reproduction