“He once saw a tame Stork, frolicking with some children, who were playing at ‘hide and seek.’”
Page [135].
“Even when reduced to a state of domestication,” continued Uncle Thomas, “and excluded from the society of its species, the kindness of the Stork shows itself towards human beings. A gentleman relates that he once saw a tame Stork frolicking with some children which were playing at ‘hide and seek,’ running its turn when touched, and distinguishing the child whose turn it was to pursue the others so well as to be on its guard as watchfully as any of its young companions.”
“Wouldn’t you like to have a Stork in our garden, Harry?” asked Jane.
“Yes,” said Harry, “if it would run about like this one; but I want to hear about the migration of the Stork. It must surely be something singular, since it is spoken of in the Bible.”
“I do not know that there is any thing peculiar in the migration of the Stork,” said Uncle Thomas, “or that it displays more instinctive sagacity in the matter than the ‘Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow,’ with which it is mentioned. Perhaps their abundance in the Holy Land, and the reverence in which the Stork was held, had some influence on the Prophet’s language. A traveller in the East says, ‘Returning from Cana to Nazareth, I saw the fields so filled with flocks of Storks that they appeared quite white with them; and when they arose, and hovered in the air, they seemed like clouds.’
“They generally leave their more northerly winter-quarters,” continued Uncle Thomas, “about the month of July or August. Previous to their departure, they assemble in large flocks, and appear to hold a consultation as to their future movements, and sometimes several meetings take place before they take flight. When they fairly set out, they mount high into the air; so high as to be invisible to the eye, unless when passing a ridge of mountains. A traveller tells us of several flights which he saw passing over Mount Carmel, each of which extended more than half a mile in breadth, and was upwards of three hours in passing. Here is a fine poetical description of a meeting of Storks preparing to migrate:—
“Where the Rhine loses its majestic force
In Belgian plains,—won from the raging deep
By diligence amazing, and the strong