522 
STORK. 
country of serpents. Their filial piety too was so 
greatly celebrated, that the law which compelled the 
maintenance of parents was enacted in honour of 
them, and Aristophanes draws from their conduct 
a bitter satire on the human race. The Mahometans 
esteem the stork ; and the Egyptians have a great 
veneration for it. 
A few years ago one of these birds was shot near 
Sandwich, and brought to Mr. Boys of that place, 
who assured us that the stork, being but slightly 
hurt in the wing, made a desperate resistance before 
he was killed, and wounded the man in the leg with 
his long bill. This circumstance is worthy of no- 
tice, as it has been said that the stork never visits 
this country. Storks feed chiefly on frogs, and are 
therefore of great use to the Egyptians, who would 
be over-run by them upon the subsiding of the Nile 
if it were not for these birds. 
