THE HBKON. 



Adjutant. 



Bittern. 



Heron. 



Stork 



The Stork is extensively found throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. In Holland, Storks are very 

 abundant, and are encouraged by the Dutch to build in their towns. In Holland a kind of false chimney 

 is built by the inhabitants for these birds to make their nests in. When the Stork cannot find a building 

 on which to make its nest, it chooses the flat spreading branches of a cedar or pine, and there collects a 

 large mass of sticks and twigs, on which it lays from three to five whitish eggs. "Winn disturbed, the 

 birds make a great clattering with their bills. Its food consists of rats, mice, frogs, &c, and it is for the 

 benefits it confers upon man by devouring these vermin that it is so carefully protected and encouraged, 

 especially in the East, where the inhabitants do not trouble themselves by removing (•anion or offal, but 

 leave that office to the vultures, hyenas, and other scavengers of nature. The height of the Stork is 

 nearly four feet. In their migrations these birds avoid the extremes of heat and cold ; never being seen 

 in summer farther north than Russia or Sweden, nor in winter farther south than Egypt. 



Among the ancients, to kill a Stork was considered a crime, which, in some places, was punished even 

 with death; and, like the Ibis, this bird became the object of worship. It is remarkable for its great affec- 

 tion towards its young, but more especially for its attention to its parents in old age. 



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