STRANGE BIRDS AND THEIR WAYS. 263 



majestic flight, He will often float a long distance with- 

 out a movement of the wings, as though supported by his 

 own weight, gliding downward at last in spiral lines to the 

 nest, where the hungry brood, in a clappering tongue, give 

 vent to their joy. 



7. As among the wandering shepherd tribes of the 

 Steppes the chief precedes his family to look for new pas- 

 tures, then returns to lead them thither, so does the male 

 stork appear along the German rivers and the North Sea, 

 one or two weeks before the female, in order to reconnoiter ; 

 and when he has again found the old moss-covered house- 

 ridge with the empty nest ; when he sees the fountain in 

 the court-yard, with the wide-spreading trees beside it, and 

 has cast a look over the country, he suddenly disappears, to 

 return soon after with his spouse ; and then, with courtly 

 obeisances and merry clapperings, introducing her as mis- 

 tress, sets about repairing the old house or building a new 

 one. Possession is thus taken ; the stork arranges his 

 household, and paternal cares now occupy his attention. 



8. Except some quarrels with his kind, growing out of 

 jealousy, the stork is a most peaceable and tolerant charac- 

 ter, and, just as around the baronial castle swarms of poor 

 retainers settle and seek protection, so does he allow the 

 sparrow and swallow to take up their abode beneath the 

 protecting, spray-built cupola of his house. He, however, 

 stands like an emir, in grave composure, above the noisy 

 rabble, without allowing their boldest tricks to mislead or 

 anger him. Indeed, the stork, above all other birds, has a 

 feeling for home and love for domestic life. He is a watch- 

 ful household chief, shownng as much tenderness for his 

 progeny as filial gratitude to parents and benefactors. 



9. On this account the stork has at all times been re- 

 garded as "a bird of piety," and set up as a pattern of do- 

 mestic virtue. Thus, it is said, he will carry his young 

 upon his back when teaching them to fly, or to save them 



