Storks, Herons, Bitterns and relatives
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 150 specimens of storks, herons, bitterns and their relatives, plus numerous eggs. These date from 1872 to 2005.
This collection consists of around 62 mounted specimens, 50 skins, 13 skeletal remains and 16 parts, and represents 32 species. There are 28 bitterns, 54 herons (including 23 grey herons), 13 egrets, 11 storks, 20 ibises, 13 spoonbills, five flamingos and three hamerkops. There are more than 450 eggs in the collection, which relate to 24 species. The eggs include 70 grey heron eggs (Ardea cinerea) and a good series of eggs from Asian species, mainly India and Burma, collected by John Mitchell Douglas Mackenzie. Many of the specimens are from Scotland, although there are also examples from England, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Bosnia, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Persian Gulf, Kenya, Malawi, India, the Andaman Islands, Burma, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Guyana, Mexico and the USA. Specimens of the American bittern and little egret are notable Scottish records.
Storks, herons, bitterns and their relatives (including egrets, ibises and spoonbills) belong to the order Ciconiiformes. These are all long-legged wading birds with long bills.
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