The Stork. 231 



"A vStork too, that welcome guest from foreign 

 lands, that devotee of filial duty, with its long 

 thin legs and rattling bill, the bird that is banished 

 by the winter and announces the coming of the 

 warm season, has made his accursed nest in my 

 boiler." I am reminded also of a story, which 

 has the authority both of Jornandes and Pro- 

 copius, that at the siege of Aquileia in A.D. 452, 

 Attila was encouraged to persist by the sight of 

 a Stork and her young leaving the beleaguered 

 city. " Such a domestic bird would never have 

 abandoned her ancient seats unless those towers 

 had been devoted to impending ruin and soli- 

 tude." 1 Here then we seem to have another 

 example of a bird abandoning its ancient practice 

 of breeding, occasionally at least, in Italy. If 

 this is due to persecution, the persecutors have 

 made a great mistake. The Stork does no harm 

 to man, but rather rids his fields of vermin ; the 

 Crane, which belongs to a different order of birds, 

 may do serious damage, as we have seen, to 



1889, a pair of Storks were illustrating Petronius' lines admir- 

 ably except in that they were captives. 

 1 Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 240, ed. Milman, 



