2IO 



The Stoi^k. 



those Egyptian emigrants (storks) settled, 

 and it affords me unbounded pleasure to 

 watch them in their curious habits. I 

 have witnessed the arrival of their advance 

 guard. I saw them select their quarters 

 and afterward selecting their mates, build 

 their nests, deposit their eggs, hatch their 

 young, nursing them with parental affec- 

 tion, feeding, raising and teaching them to 

 fly, to prepare them for their later long and 

 tedious emigration. 



" I frequently ascended the Miinster for 

 the purpose of sketching the beautiful 

 landscape with the view of painting a pan- 

 orama, employing a large telescope to 

 bring the objects nearer to my eyes. It 

 was at this time that the annual stork 

 flocks arrived. As they arrived, each 

 sought his mate — they separated in pairs 

 — but one luckless stiltleg, in spite of all 

 his amorous attentions, found it impossible 

 to win his bride; the object of his affection 

 bestowed her love upon another. 



" The young couple were happy, while the 

 disappointed rival, now a dreamy bachelor, 

 sat gloomy and sad, his neck drawn in, on 

 an adjoining chimney, looking the picture 

 of ruined hopes, and regarding with evi- 

 dent hate and jealousy the happy pair near 

 him. Melancholy was breeding vengeance; 

 murderous thoughts filled his heart. I saw 

 the mother patiently hatching until finally 

 the young were prepared to emerge from 

 the eggs. The hateful big-headed little 

 things, clothed in yellow down, could al- 

 ready raise their heads and produce a shrill 

 whistling sound, when the watching mother, 

 with cheerful chatter, welcomed the return- 

 ing father who emptied his well-filled crop 

 of its load of frogs and lizards into the 

 nest. The splenetic rival, hatred hatching, 

 still sat upon the chimney, casting mali- 

 cious glances down upon the happy scene. 



" On a certain day, while both parents 

 were absent, I saw a stork descending, and 

 with relentless strokes sinking his bill into 

 the flesh of the young ones. Through my 



glass I saw the blood flow, the little heads 

 sink and they lay cold in death. After 

 committing the bloody deed, the murderer 

 again perched himself upon the solitary 

 chimney. Jealousy, insulted dignity, un- 

 reciprocated love, were the motives for the 

 crime. Soon the mother appeared, hover- 

 ing over the nest, and, seeing her little 

 ones dead, uttered a cry of distress and 

 hastened away to seek her lord. In a 

 short time both returned, and, sitting upon 

 the edge of the nest, with disconsolate 

 looks, commenced stirring the lifeless 

 bodies as if to satisfy themselves that they 

 were really dead, while a suppressed sad 

 wailing, strangely contrasting with their 

 usual happy chatterings, escaped their 

 breasts. 



" Suddenly rising into the air, I saw 

 them descend with relentless fury upon 

 the murderer. My eyes alone had wit- 

 nessed the bloody deed. They, however, 

 guessed the truth. A dreadful struggle 

 now commenced. The powerful bills were 

 used as piercing spears and cutting swords; 

 the long stiltlegs as clutching claws and 

 beating war-clubs, while the heavy strokes 

 of the long wings sounded loud and far. 

 The feathers flew in all directions; now 

 the combatants, driven as by a whirlwind, 

 flew through the air; then again they 

 would sink upon the adjacent house-tops, 

 until finally the murderer sought safety in 

 flight, and closely pursued by the enraged 

 parents, they were soon out of sight. 



"The sequel is soon told: Never from 

 that hour forth did I see the solitary stork 

 upon the chimney; he must have fallen a 

 guilty sacrifice to the wrath of the injured 

 parents." 



Innumerable traditions and legends cen- 

 ter in this interesting bird in Germany, in 

 which country he is regarded, by the chil- 

 dren at least, as something sacred. He 

 has always been regarded as the herald of 

 spring. A very old tradition, recorded as 

 early as the thirteenth century, states that 



