THE STORK. 137 



time to their own country, where they resume the 

 human form. It has heen conjectured, that this 

 tradition ^ame originally from Egypt, where the 

 Storks are held in equal respect, as we shall see, 

 when we speak of their sacred bird, the Ibis. By 

 the Jews, the former was also respected, though 

 for a different reason; they called it Chaseda, 

 which in Hebrew signifies piety, or mercy, from 

 the tenderness shown by the young to the older 

 birds, who, when the latter were feeble or sick, 

 would bring them food. 



This affection, however, appears to be mutual, for 

 the parent birds have a more than ordinary degree 

 of affection for their young, and have been known 

 to perish rather than desert them. An attachment 

 of this sort once occasioned the death of an old 

 Stork, at the burning of the city of Delft, in Hol- 

 land. When the flames approached her nest, 

 situated on a house-top, she exerted herself to the 

 utmost to save her young; but finding every effort 

 useless, she remained and perished with them. 

 Besides the Jews, other ancient nations held these 

 birds in veneration. A law among the Greeks, 

 obliging children to support their parents, even 

 received its name from a reference to these birds *. 

 By the Romans it was called the pious bird, and 

 was also an emblem on the medals of such Roman 

 princes as merited the title of Pius. Of their 

 attachment towards each other, we can give another 

 instance, which occurred in this country. 



A gentleman had for some years been possessed 



