THE WHITE STORK. 197 



observing the regard some of the gallinae race, 

 particularly the Guinea fowls, show for the fos- 

 ter-parent, usually a common hen, under whose 

 wing they have been reared. However nume- 

 rous the inmates of the poultry-yard, the Guinea- 

 fowls never fail to recognise their former pro- 

 tectress, for many months after they have ceased 

 to be her charge, greeting her apparently with a 

 few kindly words, whenever they chance to meet, 

 and often walking by her side for some time, as 

 if to prolong the conversation. We have been 

 struck by this as a very pleasing instance, in 

 which the birds of the air might read a lesson to 

 ungrateful man. But the gentle stork goes much 

 further than our acquaintance of the poultry- 

 yard. Reared and foptered with the tenderest 

 care by the parent birds, they return in a later 

 day all the kindness they have received, bestow- 

 ing on them the most affectionate attentions 

 when they are old and feeble : they bring them 

 food when languishing under sickness and debi- 

 lity, and in their long migratory flights they are 

 said to assist these aged parents by carrying 

 them on their backs. 



Sir John Hill quotes, from a Danish writer, 

 an account of the manner in which the storks 

 return to that country in the spring. " At this 

 time it is not uncommon to see several of the old 



