HIS SYSTEM OF MORALITY. 
321 
but, a few days, and lo ! he sees a wheel attached to a tree or a 
house-top, and he recognizes the sign it affords of a hospitable recep- 
tion. He takes possession of it, and immediately throws aside his 
caution, and displays the full extent of his confidence. He learns to 
know the person of his host, and to distinguish those who are friendly 
from those who bear him no goodwill. He knows whether he is loved, 
liked, or regarded with indifference ; he observes everything, and his 
observation is never at fault. 
Generally, the stork is considered a mild and inoffensive bird ; but 
in reality, says Naumann, he is nothing of the kind — which we are 
sorry to learn, as it disabuses us of one of our cherished partialities. 
The way in which he gets his living accustoms him, it seems, to make 
a habit of murder ; to look upon it, in fact, as one of the fine arts, a la 
De Quincey ; and when no other victims are at hand, he gratifies his 
lust of blood upon his own congeners. This is shocking; and we would 
gladly have believed it a libel. But, unfortunately, facts are stubboi^n 
things; and it is known that sometimes when he arrives at a nest he 
will throw himself upon the youngsters, and, in spite of the resistance 
of the parents, consummate a massacre of the innocents. It is known, 
too, that before setting out on their annual migration the storks kill 
their sick ; which, however, is no more than Napoleon did at Jaffa, 
— and Hazlitt eloquently defends the great soldier's conduct. If you 
tease even a tame stork, he will turn and rend you ; and when 
wounded he makes a vigorous defence, striking with his beak right 
and left, and aiming cruel blows at the eyes of his adversary. 
But all storks have not the same nature, and many among them 
may be as guiltless of blood as a Quaker. Some are very sociable, and 
are willing that their congeners should build in their neighbourhood ; 
not a few, on the other hand, are determined to be monarchs of all 
they survey. Various motives, foremost among which is the fear of 
danger, determine the storks to assemble in one body for migratory 
purposes; but it is only with those of their own kind that they show 
this disposition to association. An isolated stork will live like a 
hermit, rather than join with other birds. 
The great usefulness of the stork is a reason for looking generously 
21 
