THE STORK, 



211 



Solon's initiative, by wliicli children were bound to support 



their aged parents, was called the Pelagian or Stork Law. 

 All naturalists agree, 



however, that the stork 



displays an extraordi- ^ 



nary amount of philo- 



progenitiveness ; and, ^ 



according to BufFon, =^ 



some instances have ^ 



been observed, though 



we admit that Buffon's 



authority is not h 



pregnable, of birds un- S=^^^ 



able to fly, either ^ 



through weakness or ac- ^^^-' 



cidental causes, being ^ * 

 fed by their stronger ^'^ 

 companions. We are 

 not sure that the fol 

 lowing anecdote, re- 

 lated by a Dutch 

 writer, can be con- 

 sidered as authentic. 

 In the year 1531, the 

 town of Delft, in Hol- 

 land, was partly de- 

 stroyed by fire ; and when a female stork, which had been 

 away on a foraging expedition, returned to her nest, she 

 found the house on which it had been built enveloped in 

 flames. At first she exerted all her strength to extricate 



STOEK. 



