162 



SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



sertion of the Psalmist, that 'the fir trees are the house of the stork,' 

 Ps. civ. 17. 



Like the crane, the stork is a bird of passage ; and to its periodi- 

 cal migration the prophet Jeremiah refers, ch. viii. 7. Shaw fur- 

 nishes us with a proof of their surprising instinct in preparing for 

 their journey, which is worthy of notice. * It is observed of the 

 storks, when they * know their appointed time,' that, for about the 

 sjface of a fortnight before they pass from one country to another, 

 they constantly resort together, from all the circumjacent parts, in 

 a certain plain ; and there, forming themselves once every day into 

 a douwanne, or council (according to the phrase of these Eastern 

 nations,) are said to determine the exact time of their departure, 

 and the place of their future abodes.' 



THE PELICAN. 





THE Hebrew name of this curious bird is evidently tafcren from 

 its manner of discharging the contents of its bag or pouch, fo^r the 

 purpose of satisfying its own hunger, or that of its young. 



