GLIMPSES OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
85 
beautiful and sociable birds became our constant companions 
from this time on. 
From Switzerland we entered Germany again at Strasburg 
proceeding thence by way of Heidelberg and Mainz down the 
Rhine to Cologne. 
Soon after leaving Mainz by river steamer early in the fore¬ 
noon of June 28, we espied in a village on the east bank several 
most singular looking nests perched on stilts on the tops of 
chimneys, the stilts evidently provided by the hand of man to 
elevate the^nests so far above the sum¬ 
mit of the flues as to give room for 
draught. Soon we saw some large her¬ 
on-like creatures perched about one of 
them and we knew to our delight that 
we at last saw with our own eyes the 
famous fortune-bringing Stork (Ciconia 
alba), the theme of romance and folk¬ 
lore for ages unknown. Nothing yet 
had struck us as so foreign as these great 
birds. Folks looked natural if they didn’t 
talk natural ; scenery could be matched 
at home ; the stork reminded us forci 
bly that we were foreigners. Blessed 
be the storks, beloved of German hearts, 
bringers of babies and all sorts of good 
luck ! 
No new birds appeared through 
Holland and Belgium, and in the short 
time we spent in France we were im- 
pressed^that the country was not so well 
‘‘birded ” as Switzerland, Germany and 
Holland. Perhaps Parisian milliners 
may be in part responsible. It was when we passed over to 
England that our eyes and ears were gratified with evidence of 
a larger bird life, undoubtedly the result of a closer sympa¬ 
thy with the rest of the animal creation among the English peo- 
