THE STORK. 
133 
punctual in their comings and goings, that from the 
most remote times, they have been considered 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 had 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 ; but my people know not the judg- 
ment of the Lord.” — Jeremiah viii. 7- 
So punctual is the arrival and departure of the 
various migratory birds, that, to this day, the Per- 
sians, as well as ancient Arabs, often form their 
almanacks on their movements. Thus, the begin- 
ning of the singing of Nightingales was the com- 
mencement of a festival, welcoming the return of 
warm weather ; while the coming of the Storks was 
the period of another, announcing their joy at the 
departure of Winter. The expression, “ the Stork 
in the heaven,” is more applicable than at first ap- 
pears, for even when out of sight, its pathway may 
be traced by the loud and piercing cries, peculiar to 
those of the New as well as of the Old World*. In 
America f, too, its migrations are equally regular, 
passing its immense periodical journeys at such a 
prodigious height as to be seldom observed. It is 
satisfactory thus to strengthen the authority of a 
Scriptural passage from so distant a source, though 
amply borne out by witnesses in the very country 
in which the prophet dwelt. 
* See p. 77? vol. i. + Heron’s Journey in North America . 
