136 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



But one writer mentions the case of a tame Stork which 

 he himself saw joining in a game of " Touch," which some 

 children in a garden were playing. It entered into the 

 spirit of the game, and (so he says) chased the others when 

 it was touched, and having nipped hold of their clothing 

 with its beak ran off in its turn. 



For the most part, the Stork can hardly be called a 

 playful bird. He is too dignified. You would not 

 exactly like to take liberties with him. In fact, there 

 are occasions when he can be very serious and purposeful 

 indeed. 



For example, here is an anecdote from an old Natural 

 History : "A farmer in the neighbourhood of Hamburg 

 brought into his poultry -yard a wild Stork to be the 

 companion of a tame one which he had long kept there. 

 But the latter, disliking what he took to be a rival, beat 

 the wild one so cruelly that he was compelled to take 

 wing, and with some difiiculty escaped. A few months 

 later, however, the ill-used bird returned to the poultry- 

 yard, attended by three other Storks, when they all fell 

 upon the tame Stork and killed him." 



But we associate pleasanter things than revenge with 

 the Stork. He is a bird with a good reputation, and 

 though some of the oft-told stories of his affectionate 

 care for his old parents seem to be exaggerations, 

 he has kept up that reputation for many hundreds of 

 years. 



Certainly he and his mate are devoted to their helpless 

 nestlings, and will literally " go through fire and water " to 

 save them from peril. 



It is said that during the battle of Friedland, in the 

 year 1807, when the Prussians and their allies were beaten 

 so disastrously by Napoleon, a farm near the city was set 



