ABOUT STORKS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 106, 31 October 1914, Page 11

ABOUT STORKS

MODEL MATES AMONG BIRDS MESSENGERS OF HOPE.

Some of the children and adults who have seen the storks dancing in Wellington's Zoo may harbour a mistaken notion that these birds of tho long legs, and beaks to match, are more grotesque than dignified. That impression should be removed by the ndtes of a pleasant writer in the Westminster Gazette. One hardly expects to find notes on bird life among the war news trom our foreign correspondents (the nature-lover wrote), but one such note did come through the other day, and was of special interest. The Matin's special correspondent at Langres sends the following despatch : "The storks of Alsace*, frightened by the noise of the firing, are reaching tho cathedral of Langres, bringing the traditional message lof hope. The population, massed in the square, applauds them as they settle on the cathedral tower." , The stork is one of the best-known birds in tho continental countries, with the exception of France, and is held 111 great esteem by the inhabitants. It is to the Continental peasants what tho swallow is to us; it is, in fact, held in higher esteem even, and every encouragement is held out to the bird to give its blessing to the homestead, by placing wheels or large boxes on the chimneystacks for it to nest on. The birds arrive from their winter quarters in Northern Africa rather earlier than the swallow, and are eagerly hailed as the harbinger of spring, bringing with them the promise of a bountiful season and good harvests to the peasants. Their quaint mannerisms, their constancy to then? old haunts, and their unremitting care of their young, are all qualities that endear thetn to the hearts of the simple country folk, who wiJl tell all sortß of strange tales about them. Some will tell you that they have been heard to rap" at the door in passing, as if to tell of their arrival, and to give a like sign of adieu on their departure. In Alsace storks are quite a feature of the country, their great bulky nests Deing nearly always placed on tile top of the homestead of tho fortunate inhabitant to whom the bird is supposed to have brought good luck. They return year after year to the same spot, and go through their quaint attitudes of lovemaking every spring. At this season they indulge in a grotesque sort of dance, hopping in the air with their long legs and with wings extended, all tho while making a loud noiso by clattering their mandibles. At other seasons of the year the stork is an extremely dignified bird, resting for quite long peiiods on some elevated perch on one leg or circling around in the air with a slow and majestic flight. On the ground, too, where they seai'ch for their food in the shape of frogs and such-like prey, they are extremely dignified in their long and measured strut. The only sound the stork ever makes is when, either courting or in anger, it clatters tho upper and lower parts of its bill together, producing a sort of rattling noise, and this gave rise to a belief in ancient times that the stork did not possess a tongue. Its tongue is certainly very small. \ From veTy early times this bird has been regarded as an emblem of conjugal fidelity and filial and paternal piety. The care bestowed on the young ib extraordinary. The parents tend, and guard them with unremitting attention, and when they are old enough to leave the nest one of the 1 parents takes them on its back and brings them in safety to the ground. There are tales told, too. of dangers in which the mother has chosen to perish with her young rather than forsake them. In an. old Dutch work is recounted the wellknown story of the Delft stork, which in the conflagration of that city, after having in vain attempted to rescue her j'oung, s perished with them in the flames. But beyond this virtue of the affection of the parents for the young, the young themselves at a later age appear to lavish much tenderness on the older birds, feeding and tending the infirm. The old Greek law that compelled the maintenance of parents -was named after the stork. Undoubtedly this bird owes ite exlrerae tameness and its love of human habitation to the protection that was afforded it in almost every country of Europe long ages agoi nnd wkich hue been wuju\uvd over