“But there are no such places in England for Herons to frequent, are there?” asked Harry.
“None exactly answering the description which I have just read,” said Uncle Thomas; “but there are nevertheless several Heronries in England, and as they are both rare and ornamental, they are very carefully preserved. That the Herons still continue in England, and are not quite extirpated, like some other species which have altogether passed away before the progress of cultivation, is partly owing to the care of the proprietors of the heronries, and partly to their own extreme vigilance, and the determination with which they resist the attacks of their enemies. A gentleman on one occasion managed to get within shot of a Heron, which was watching for its prey, wading in the stream a little above a waterfall. He fired, and wounded the bird, and sent his Dog into the river, to bring it to land. As soon as the Dog came within its reach the Heron drew back its head, and struck the Dog with all its force with its sharp and powerful bill. With such power had this been done, that it transfixed the poor little Dog; and on the sportsman again firing and killing the Heron, both it and the Dog floated down the foaming waterfall.
“They are, moreover,” continued Uncle Thomas, “very kind and affectionate to their young. Mr. Jesse, a pleasing writer on Natural History, relates that a young bird having fallen out of a nest, at Walton-on-Thames, where there is a fine heronry, it was taken away in the evening by a gentleman, who carried it to his house at some miles distance, and turned it into a walled garden. The next morning, one of the old birds was seen to feed it, and continued to do so till the young one made its escape. This bird must have gone over a very considerable space of ground in search of the young Heron.”
“What is the difference between a Stork and a Heron?” asked Jane. “We were looking at a picture of them to-day and did not observe much difference.”
“In their appearance,” said Uncle Thomas, “there is considerable similarity; but the Stork is smaller than the Heron, and its habits are very different. In every country in which the Stork is found it is a bird of passage, and does not remain stationary like the Heron. Which of you can tell me in what part of the Bible the migration of the Stork is mentioned?”
This was rather a puzzling question to Uncle Thomas’s young friends. They all had seen it, or thought they had, but no one could tell where it was to be found. Harry and John were quite certain that it occurred in Genesis, and Mary thought it was in the Psalms; but on Uncle Thomas telling them that neither was correct, Jane wisely declared her ignorance of the matter, and Frank declined to offer an opinion.
“Here it is, then,” said Uncle Thomas, “in the Book of Jeremiah, chap. viii. v. 7, in which the Prophet contrasts the wilful ignorance of his countrymen with the instinctive knowledge of the Stork. ‘Yea,’ he says, ‘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 judgment of the Lord.’”
“In the countries which the Storks inhabit,” continued Uncle Thomas, “they are most useful birds, performing, to a certain extent, the office of the Vulture, by consuming such small animals as are left after the periodical subsidence of the rains with which those countries are regularly visited, as well as for the quantities of reptiles and other noxious creatures which they destroy. In Holland, where, from its flatness and humidity, such animals are very numerous, the Stork is carefully protected by the inhabitants; and in all the Eastern cities they look upon it with a feeling little short of veneration, considering it a sacred bird, which they are forbidden to kill. At Constantinople so secure are they from molestation that they are said to build their nests in the streets; but, in other countries, they prefer a lofty situation, such as the roof of a house, or the steeple of a minaret. A recent writer describes the scenes of affection which are exhibited during the breeding season as very interesting. ‘Nothing,’ says he, ‘can be more pleasing than to view an assemblage of the nests of the Stork. Divided as they always are into pairs, sometimes only the long elastic neck of one of them is seen peering from its cradle of nestlings, the male standing by on one of his long slim legs and watching with every sign of the closest affection; while other couples on the adjacent walls are fondly entwining their pliant necks and mixing their long bills; the one sometimes bending her neck over her back, and burying her head in the soft plumage, while her companion, clacking his long beak with a peculiar sharp and monotonous sound, raises her head and embraces it with a quivering delight; while from the holes and crannies of the walls below the storks’ nests, thousands of little blue Turtle-doves flit in all directions, keeping up an incessant cooing by day and night.’”
“Dear kind creatures!” exclaimed Jane, as Uncle Thomas finished the sentence.
“Kind they certainly are,” said Uncle Thomas, “beyond any thing recorded of unreasoning animals. The young Storks have often been observed to lavish the most affectionate and assiduous care on their aged and infirm parents, when they were no longer able to seek food for themselves; and so kind and attentive are they to their young, that both parents never leave the nest at the same time, one of them always remaining to watch over it during the other’s absence, and steadily keeping its eyes all the while fixed on its little charge. A great many years ago, a fire broke out in a house in Holland, on which was built a Stork’s nest containing a brood of young nestlings unable to fly. On the mother’s returning laden with food, she discovered the danger which threatened her offspring, and made several attempts to save them, but finding all her efforts ineffectual, she at length spread her wings over the nest to protect them, and in that attitude expired with them in the flames!”