118 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



examine this rarity : the bird shewed no sort of alarm, 

 the ooyevaar (as our Dutch friends called it) being privi- 

 leged in Holland. In many places, where a new house is 

 built, a nest-box is erected on the gable, or on the ridge 

 of the roof, partly to invite the bird to make a settlement, 

 and partly perhaps to save the thatch of the roof, in case 

 it should come without invitation *. 



During the after-part of the day, we passed through a 

 well cultivated country. The wheat appeared universally 

 ripe for the sickle ; but very little was yet cut, (22d Au- 

 gust.) Flax is extensively raised ; and a fellow-travel- 

 ler assured us, that it was the most profitable crop in this 

 part of the States. We were now in the country of Dutch 

 Clover strictly so called, and observed many rich fields of 

 it. The sides of the road were often fringed with alexan- 

 ders and with wild parsnip, as well as Eryngium campes- 

 tre, and the ditches every where presented Sagittaria and 

 Morsus ranae, all of them now in flower. 



Instead of reaching our destination early in the after- 

 noon, as promised, we had yet a broad ferry to cross, being 

 what is called the Old Maese ; and after this, to traverse 

 the Island of Ysselmond. We were still floundering in 



• Previous to the great migration, the storks assemble in large groups, 

 and make an unusual noise. It is known that they winter chiefly in Egypt. 

 Pope has finely alluded to their remarkable instinct: 



Who calls the council, states the certain day ? 



Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way ? 



In the beginning of May they return, like swallows, to their former haunts, 

 the old birds carefully seeking out their accustomed nests. Sometimes, 

 though rarely, a stray stork crosses the Channel, and is seen on the Eng- 

 lish coast. It is there incessantly persecuted ; it commonly perches on the 

 roof of MOM thatched farm-house, where its experience leads it to hope for 

 protection; — hut it is not the dwelling of a quiet Dutch boor ; some pseudo- 

 ipo r tem an ofi farmer ihootft the poor bird while at roost.— See Supplement 

 to Montagu*! Ornithological Dictionary, art. Stouk. 



