264 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



when the nest is threatened with fire ; whence, as some sup- 

 pose, he acquired the old German name of Adeboar, which 

 literally means " luck-bringcr," he being good, bringing 

 good with him. One thing must not be forgotten, that 

 the stork extends his love of offspring to human little ones, 

 and that these reciprocate his love with kindness and atten- 

 tion. 



10. Cleanliness, too, is a fundamental law of his house- 

 hold economy ; it is a part, so to speak, of the natural 

 character of the stork, and is, indeed, the more necessary, 

 as on his white dress every impurity would show itself most 

 conspicuously. The bill supplies the place of brush and 

 comb ; and on the coat, the breast-facings, and stockings 

 there is always a something to smooth down and order. 

 Nor is all this a more show of cleanliness ; he would not 

 be satisfied with having a clean shirt-front merely, and he 

 bathes frequently. 



11. The stork, it is clear, reveals a relationship between 

 his mode of being and action and that of man ; and hence 

 he attaches himself to man, and man to him. Careless 

 and confiding he walks about the court and garden of the 

 farmer ; in seaport towns, even, he stalks on amid all the 

 bustle of the streets, and expects every one whom he 

 meets to make way for him ; he wanders from market to 

 market, from fountain to fountain, examines boldly here a 

 basket and there a dish ; in short, he feels himself at home. 

 Despite all familiarity, he knows how to make himself re- 

 spected ; and ho maintains not only his perfect freedom, 

 but even a sort of superiority. 



12. When, in the height of summer, the meadows are 

 parched and ponds and morasses are dried up, the stork re- 

 sorts to the interior of the woods, with their glades, brooks, 

 and marshes ; and when, in the beginning of autumn, the 

 inferior animals retire into their holes and winter abodes, 

 vast numbers, all travel - equipped, collect together and 



