134 THE STORK. 



punctual ill their comings and goings, that from the 

 most remote times, they have been considered 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 had 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 judg- 

 ment of the Lord." -Jeremiah viii. 7- 



So punctual is the arrival and departure of the 

 various migratory birds, that to this day, the Per- 

 sians, as well as ancient Arabs, often form their 

 almanacks on their movements. Thus, the begin- 



7 O 



ning of the singing of Nightingales was the com- 

 mencement of a festival, welcoming the return of 

 warm weather; while the coming of the Storks was 

 the period of another, announcing their joy at the 

 departure of Winter. The expression, " the Stork 

 in the heaven," is more applicable than at first ap- 

 pears, for even when out of sight, its pathway may 

 be traced by the loud and piercing cries, peculiar to 

 those of the New as well as of the Old World* . In 

 America t, too, its migrations are equally regular, 

 passing its immense periodical journeys at such a 

 prodigious height as to be seldom observed. It is 

 satisfactory thus to strengthen the authority of a 

 Scriptural passage from so distant a source, though 

 amply borne out by witnesses in the very country 

 in which the prophet dwelt. 

 * See p. 77? vol. i. -j- Hcarne's Journey in North America. 



