THE STORK. 



KIND reader, will you follow me for a 

 few moments while I introduce to 

 you that peculiar feathered sage and phi- 

 losopher, the stork. I say sage and philoso- 

 pher, because, to look at him and closely 

 watch his habits, one is instinctively led to 

 the conclusion that if any bird possesses 

 powers akin to human wisdom and reason- 

 ing faculties, he is the one. I allude, of 

 course, to that stork which annually makes 

 his flight from the valley of the historic 

 Nile to the meadows and chimney tops of 

 the valley of the classic Rhine, there to 

 build its nest, lay its eggs and hatch its 

 young, spend the summer in that delightful 

 climate, and with his increased army, mar- 

 shalled in the lowlands, take his flight 

 again to the former country in the fall. 



During a stay of nine months in the 

 grand old cathedral town of Strassburg, in 

 Alsace, I was afforded an opportunity to 

 study the character and peculiarities of this 

 interesting creature, and never shall I re- 

 gret it. It opened to me a new volume, 

 as it were, on the subject of ornithology, 

 and I studied its pages with a satisfaction 

 and pleasure which has left a life-long im- 

 pression on my mind. By daily, yea hourly, 

 observations, I followed the doings of the 

 different "pairs" as they commenced the 

 work of repairing the nests of former years, 

 generally situated on the highest chimneys 

 of the city. After this was attended to the 

 female deposited her eggs, and the process 

 of incubation commenced. After a while 

 uncouth little woolly heads, with dispropor- 

 tionately long bills, appeared to the gaze. 

 In the course of time these bills and heads 

 grew into birds with bodies, and soon 

 showed themselves above the edge of the 

 nest, then the first rudiments of flying 

 were taught them by the parent birds, who 

 by some of the most ludicrous movements 

 in gymnastics, went through the motions 



by rising above the nest a few yards, then 

 dropping down again and anon flying from 

 the nest to the peak of the roof and back 

 again, until the young, seeming to under- 

 stand what it was all about, finally imitated 

 the movements and thus from day to day 

 improved in their education until, fully 

 fledged, they ventured out through the air 

 with the parents, to seek their own food. 

 But the most interesting part of the whole 

 programme was to observe them forming 

 their detachments preparatory to their 

 migratory flight to Egypt in the fall of the 

 year. Conventions, or reviews, were held 

 in the meadows, now almost bare of vege- 

 tation. The thin ice covering the shallow 

 waters of the lowlands in the morning was 

 an admonition that the time for flight was 

 near at hand, because the supply of frogs 

 and lizards was shut oft' for the season, 

 and to stay would mean to starve. The 

 companies were mustered and formed, and 

 the storks that were seen on the meadows 

 yesterday were gone to-day. It is said by 

 people living in that country, that previous 

 to starting on their long journey, all the 

 disabled companions are killed by the 

 others, because such unfortunates might 

 impede the flight, but I cannot vouch for 

 this evidence of the forethought of the 

 bird, because I never saw it. But if the 

 following, which I have translated from 

 the French, is true (and I believe it is), it 

 leaves very little doubt on my mind as to 

 the truth of the former, and is but another 

 convincing proof of the extraordinary 

 " reasoning power " of this wonderful 

 feathered nomad. 



Mons. Piton, of Strassburg, relates the 

 following, and adds that, had it occurred 

 in the days of Shakespeare, it might have 

 furnished him the plot for a tragedy: 



" On the western side of the Miinster 

 (Cathedral) we have annually a number of 



