THE STORK. 341 



with a blue powder, which may possibly serve its purpose 

 in some way not hitherto discovered. Their appetite is 

 in proportion to their powers of digestion. A Heron was 

 once seen to dart upon a large eel, and after killing it 

 by repeatedly dashing it against the ground, gulp it all 

 down. We have known another to consume no less 

 than five moderate-sized eels at a single meal, which the 

 glutton seemed quite ready to repeat within a very short 

 time after; and one was found dead not long ago on the 

 banks of Pulganny, otherwise called the Water of Bade- 

 noch, near Drumlanford House, in Scotland, the stomach 

 of which actually contained the extraordinary number of 

 thirty-nine fine trouts. 



Storks and Cranes are not, like the Heron, stationary, 

 but even in the countries to which they are most at- 

 tached, are regular birds of passage; but so punctual in 

 their comings and goings, that from the most remote 

 times, they have been considered as gifted with reasoning 

 powers. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking of their know- 

 ledge, contrasts their instinctive obedience to their Crea- 

 tor's laws, with the culpable departure therefrom by 

 those on whom God had bestowed the higher gifts of 

 reason and understanding. " Yea, the Stork in the 

 heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the Turtle, 

 and the Crane, and the Swallow, observe the time of 

 their coming; but my people know not the judgment of 

 the Lord." Jeremiah viii. 7. 



So punctual is the arrival and departure of the various 

 migratory birds, that to this day, the Persians, as well 

 as ancient Arabs, often form their almanacks on their 

 movements. Thus, the beginning of the singing of the 

 Nightingales was the commencement of a festival, wel- 

 coming the return of warm weather; while the coming 

 of the Storks was the period of another, announcing 

 their joy at the departure of Winter. The expression, 

 " the Stork in the Heaven," is more applicable than at 

 first appears, for even when out of sight, its pathway 

 may be traced by the loud and piercing cries, peculiar 



