STORKS. 38 



They are said to winter in Egypt and the north of Africa. 

 Yesterday evening, which was beautifully calm and serene, 

 when the sun had sunk, and dim twilight overspread the 

 land, I found myself alone in a churchyard : not a voice 

 was audible to disturb the utter solitude and silence with 

 which I was surrounded. A soft and winnowing sound 

 in the air suddenly attracted my attention, and imme- 

 diately a beautiful pair of storks alighted in the church- 

 yard, within a few paces of the place where I then stood. 

 It was a mild and dewy night, and they were no doubt 

 attracted there by the expectation of a plentiful supper on 

 the slugs and insects which might have left their hiding- 

 places. My unexpected presence, however, seemed to dis- 

 turb them ; for, in a few seconds, they mounted to the 

 steeple of the church, where they sat, uttering their wild 

 and singularly plaintive cries, which added greatly to 

 those impressions of loneliness and seclusion which the 

 situation tended naturally to inspire. Besides the usual 

 note, I observe these birds make a singular noise, appar- 

 ently by striking the two mandibles of the bill forcibly 

 against each other. This, too, in the silence of a summer 

 night, during which it is usually made, and when heard 

 from the top of some lofty cathedral — a name which most 

 of the churches in Holland deserve to bear — produces a 

 fine effect ; and is, indeed, in my mind, already intimately 



connected with those undefinable sensations, the remnants 



c 



