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THE STORK. 



The Stork. 



Storks and Cranes are not, like the Heron, stationary, but 

 even in the countries to which they are most attached, are 

 regular birds of passage ; but so punctual in their comings and 

 goings, that from the most remote times, they have been con- 

 sidered as gifted with reasoning powers. The prophet Jere- 

 miah, speaking of their knowledge, contrasts their instinctive 

 obedience to their Creator's laws, with the culpable departure 

 therefrom by those on whom God has bestowed the higher 

 gifts of reason and understanding. " Yea, the Stork in the 

 heaven knoweth her appointed times ; and the Turtle, and the 

 Crane, and the Swallow, observe the time of their coming; but 

 my people know not the judgment of the Lord." (Jeremiah, 

 viii. 7.) 



So punctual is the arrival and departure of the various 

 migratory birds, that to this day, the Persians, as well as 

 ancient Arabs, often form their almanacks on their movements. 

 Thus, the beginning of the singing of the Nightingales was 

 the commencement of a festival, welcoming the return of 

 warm weather j while the coming of the Storks was the period 



