32 LEAVES EROM THE 



undisturbed by human eye, has been seen full of goodly 

 little dusky powder puffs of wild ducklings, and some- 

 how or other, when he has emerged from the wilderness, 

 it has been soon after discovered that the nest was 

 empty. This feathered ogre was in the habit of visiting 

 the nests day by day, biding his time till incubation was 

 fully complete, when he swallowed every squab that had 

 come to light. But every living thing eats only to be 

 eaten. As far as humanity is concerned, the white stork 

 appears to have gone out of fashion, and come in again 

 as a savoury dish. 



Cornelius Nepos, wlio died in the daies of Augustus Caesar 

 Emperor, in that chapter, where he wTote that a httle before his 

 time men began to feed and cram blackbirds and thrushes in 

 coupes, saith moreover, that in his daies storks were holden for a 

 better dish at the bourd than cranes. And yet see how in our 

 age now no man will touch a storke if it be set before him upon 

 the bourd; but every one is readie to reach vmto the crane, and 

 no dish is in more request.* 



Horace, in his bitter second satire,t writes : — 



Tutus erat rhombus, tutoque ciconia nido: 

 Donee vos auctor docuit Prsetorius. 



And the gay Petronius rattles along the lines, in which 

 we hear the clatter of the bird's beak : — 



Ciconia etiam grata, peregrina, hospita, 

 Pietaticultrix, gracilipes, crotalistria. 

 Avis exsul hiemis, titulus tepidi temporis, 

 Nequitiae nidum in cacabo fecit meo.J 



Old Bel on (anno 1555) quotes the passage from Pliny, 

 with the following comment : — ' Voulant dire que les 

 Grues estoyent en delices, et les Cicognes n'estoyent 

 touch^es de personne.' But he adds, ' Maintenant les 

 Cicognes sont tenues pour viande royale." 



We do not trace it in our household books. Indeed, 



* Holland's Pliny. f L. 49. X Safyricon, c. 55. 



