356 aEALLATORES, OE WADING BIEDS. 



The lady began by betraying the confidence of him with whom 

 she had united her destinies ; his presence had evidently become 

 insupportable to her, and she finally killed him with the help of 

 her accomplice. 



These errors of the female render the high morality of the 

 male more conspicuous. Witness the following story, related by 

 Neander : — 



A number of Storks had taken up their abode in the market- 

 town of Tangen, in Bavaria. Perfect harmony reigned in every 

 familjr, and their lives were passed in happiness and freedom. 

 Unfortunately, a female, who had been up to that time the most 

 correct of Storks, allowed herself to be led away by the idle 

 gallantries of a young male ; this took place in the absence of 

 her mate, who was engaged in seeking food for his family. This 

 guilty liaison continued until one day the male, returning un- 

 expectedly, became convinced of her infidelity. He did not, 

 iowever, venture to take the law into his own hands ; he was 

 reluctant to dip his bill into the blood of her he had once loved so 

 fondly. He arraigned her before a tribunal composed of all the 

 birds at the time assembled for their autumnal migration. 

 Having stated the facts, he demanded the severest jiidgment of 

 the court against the accused. The ungrateful spouse was con- 

 demned to death by unanimous consent, and was immediately 

 torn in pieces. As to the male bird, although now aveirged, he 

 departed to bury his sorrows in the recesses of some desert, and 

 the place which once knew him afterwards knew him no more. 



The Storks of the Levant manifest a still greater susceptibility. 

 The inhabitants of Smyrna, who know how far the males carry 

 their feelings of conjugal honour, make these birds the subjects of 

 rather a cruel amusement. They divert themseh'es by placing 

 Hen's eggs in the nest of the Stork. At the sight of this unusual 

 production the male allows a terrible suspicion to gnaw his heart. 

 By the help of his imagination, he soon persuades himself that 

 his mate has betrayed him ; in spite of the protestations of the 

 poor thing, he delivers her over to the other Storks, who are 

 drawn together by his cries, and the innocent and unfortunate 

 victim is pecked to pieces. 



