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THE STORK. 
The Stork. 
Storks and Cranes are not, like the Heron, stationary, but 
even in the countries to which they are most attached, are 
regular birds of passage ; hut so punctual in their comings and 
goings, that from the most remote times, they have been con- 
sidered as gifted with reasoning powers. The prophet Jere- 
miah, speaking of their knowledge, contrasts their instinctive 
obedience to their Creator’s laws, with the culpable departure 
therefrom by those on whom God has bestowed the higher 
gifts of reason and understanding. “ Yea, the Stork in the 
heaven knoweth her appointed times ; and the Turtle, and the 
Crane, and the Swallow, observe the time of their coming; hut 
my people know not the judgment of the Lord.” — (Jeremiah, 
viii. 7.) 
So punctual is the arrival and departure of the various 
migratory birds, that to this day, the Persians, as well as 
ancient Arabs, often form their almanacks on their movements. 
Thus, the beginning of the singing of the Nightingales was 
the commencement of a festival, welcoming the return of 
warm weather ; while the coming of the Storks was the period 
