MIGRATION. 295 



not, we believe, been yet settled in any one in- 

 stance, with a satisfactory degree of precision. In 

 the beginning of April the stork arrives in small 

 flocks in Holland, where it is sure to meet with a 

 hospitable reception, and where it returns year after 

 year to the same chimney-top. In the beginning 

 of August, when the young are fully fledged, it pre- 

 pares for its departure, multitudes assembling from 

 the surrounding districts, and chattering with their 

 bills, as if in mutual congratulation. At length, on 

 the appointed night, the whole band mount into the 

 higher regions of the air, and pursue their south- 

 ward course, until they alight among the marshes 

 of northern Africa, and especially Egypt, where 

 they have been seen in the winter. 



On the subject of the migration of storks we 

 may quote the following anecdote, which appeared 

 lately in several public journals : 



" Last year (1833) a Polish gentleman having 

 caught a stork upon his estate near Lemburg, put 

 round its neck an iron collar with this inscription, 

 * Haec ciconia ex Polonia' (this stork comes from 

 Poland), and set it at liberty. This year the bird re- 

 turned to the same spot, and was again caught by the 

 same person. It had acquired a new collar of gold, 

 with the inscription, ' India cum donis remittit cico- 

 niam Polonis' (India sends back the stork to the 

 Poles with gifts). The gentleman, after having 

 shown the inscription to his neighbours, again set 

 the bird at liberty."* It is worthy of remark, that 

 the stork emigrates on the approach of winter, even 

 when circumstances of food or climate cannot op- 

 erate, or can operate but faintly in inducing it to do 

 so. Thus, at Bagdad, which enjoys an extremely 

 mild winter, and where even a slight degree of frost 

 is not usual, the stork regularly leaves the place 

 against the approach of that season. 



* "Atlas," December 21, 1834. 



