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SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



turn regularly, at those seasons when their provision invites or re- 

 pels them. They generally leave Europe at the latter end of Au- 

 tumn, and return in the beginning of the summer. In the inland 

 parts of the continent, they are seen crossing the country in flocks 

 of fifty or a hundred, making from the northern regions towards 

 the south. In these journeys they sometimes soar so high, howev- 

 er, as to be entirely out of sight; but then their tract is to be dis- 

 tinctly ascertained by their loud and peculiar clangor. To the in- 

 stinctive precaution of these birds in securing themselves against 

 the miseries of famine, by migrating from one part of the earth to 

 another, there is a reference in Jer. viii. 7, wher,e the blindness of 

 the Jewish nation to the indications of approaching judgments is 

 forcibly reproved : ' The crane and the swallow observe the time of 

 their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the 

 Lord.' 



THE STORK. 





... 



THE external appearance of the stork differs little from that of the 

 crane. It is of the same size ; and has the same formation as to the 

 bill, neck, legs, and body, except that it is something more corpulent. 

 Its differences are but very slight ; such as the color, which m the 

 crane is ash and black, but in the stork is white and brown. The 

 nails of the toes of the stork, also, are very peculiar, not being 



