THE STORK 135 



Storks in the country will assemble for the autumn 

 manoeuvres. It will be needful then to show that you 

 can fly well, for whoever cannot fly strongly and well will 

 be thrust through and killed by the general's beak. 



" After the great review we shall fly away to the warm 

 countries, far far away beyond the mountains and the great 

 forests. We shall go to Egypt, where there are three 

 covered houses of stone which taper to a point and tower 

 up ever so high. They are called Pyramids, and they are 

 older than a Stork, can imagine. 



" There is a river, too, in that country which overflows 

 its banks, and all the land is turned into mud. Then you 

 walk about in the mud and eat frogs (Oh-h ! cried the young 

 Storks with delight). Yes, it is splendid there. You do 

 nothing all day long but eat. And while we are so happy 

 over there, here not a green leaf remains on the trees, and 

 it is so cold that the clouds freeze to pieces and drop down 

 in little white rags," by which, of course, she meant the 

 falling snow. 



Many children must have gained their first knowledge 

 of Storks and their ways from that charming story. But 

 those who live in the old towns of Holland and Germany 

 and Denmark, where the return of the Stork means the 

 return of spring, know the tall white bird by sight long 

 before they can read about him. 



Usually he is to be seen high up on the roof or chimney 

 stack where his nest is built — a pile of sticks and twigs 

 with some soft lining — or stalking sedately about the 

 market-place looking for scraps and refuse. The fish- 

 market is his "happy hunting-ground." He is not too 

 particular, however, and no doubt the reason why he was 

 welcomed in olden days was because he made such a good 

 scavenger. 



