The storks of the Low Countries are mentioned more than once in the
journal of the gentlemen deputed by the “Caledonian Horticultural
Society” to visit the gardens of our continental neighbours. Their route
from Antwerp to Rotterdam is marked by the following entry:--
August 22, 1817. “In the course of our progress into this land of
meadows and waters, we had been making inquiries about the _storks_
(Ardea Ciconia, L.) which every year visit Holland in the breeding
season; and we learned that the great flock had taken its departure
about ten days before. We observed several of their nests, set like
wicker-baskets on the roofs of the dwelling-houses; and we had the good
fortune to see one solitary dam still covering her brood, on account
probably of the young one not having been sufficiently fledged to enable
it to accompany the main body. We persuaded the conductor to allow us to
get out of the carriage, and examine this rarity: the bird showed no
sort of alarm, the _ooyevaar_ (as our Dutch friends called it) being
privileged in Holland. In many places where a new house is built a
nest-box is erected on the gable, or on the ridge of the roof, partly to
invite the bird to make a settlement, and partly perhaps to save the
thatch of the roof, in case it should come without invitation.” It is
remarked by way of note, that “previous to the great migration the
storks assemble in large groups, and make an unusual noise. It is known
that they winter chiefly in Egypt. Pope has finely alluded to their
remarkable instinct:--
Who calls the council, states the certain day?
Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?
In the beginning of May they return, like swallows, to their former
haunts, the old birds carefully seeking out their accustomed nests.
Sometimes, though rarely, a stray stork crosses the channel, and is seen
on the English coast. It is there incessantly persecuted; it commonly
perches on the roof of some thatched farm-house, where its experience
leads it to hope for protection,--but it is not the dwelling of a quiet
Dutch boor;[423] some pseudo-sportsman of a farmer shoots the poor bird
while at roost.”
* * * * *
Of the numerous families which frequent the sides of rivers and the
sea-beach, that of the stork is the best known and the most celebrated.
It contains two species, the white and the black. They are exactly of
the same form, and have no external difference but that of colour.
The _black_ stork prefers desert tracts, perches on trees, haunts
unfrequented marshes, and breeds in the heart of forests.
The _white_ stork, on the contrary, settles beside dwellings; inhabits
towers, chimnies, and ruins. The friend of man, it shares his
habitations, and even his domain. It fishes in his rivers, pursues its
prey into his gardens, and takes up its abode in the midst of cities,
without being disturbed by the noise and bustle. On the Temple of
Concord, in the capitol of Rome, were many storks’ nests. The fact is
memorialized on the medals of the emperor Adrian, and alluded to by
Juvenal in his first satire.
* * * * *
The stork flies steadily and with vigour; holds its head straight
forward, and stretches back its legs, to direct its motion; soars to a
vast height, and performs distant journies even in tempestuous seasons.
It arrives in Germany about the eighth or tenth of May, and is seen
before that time in the provinces of France. Gesner says, it precedes
the swallow, and enters Switzerland in the month of April, and sometimes
earlier. It arrives in Alsace in March, or even in the end of February.
The return of the storks is ever auspicious, as it announces the spring.
They instantly indulge those tender emotions which that season inspires:
Aldrovandus paints with warmth their mutual signs of felicity, the eager
congratulations, and the fondling endearments of the male and female, on
their coming home from their distant journey. “When they have arrived at
their nest--good God! what sweet salutation; what gratulation for their
prosperous return! what embraces! what honied kisses! what gentle
murmurs they breathe!” It is to be observed, that they always settle in
the same spots, and, if their nest has been destroyed, they rebuild it
with twigs and aquatic plants, usually on lofty ruins, or the
battlements of towers; sometimes on large trees beside water, or on the
point of bold cliffs. In France it was formerly customary to place
wheels on the house-tops, to entice the stork to nestle. The practice
still subsists in Germany and Alsace: and in Holland square boxes are
planted on the ridge, with the same view.
When the stork is in a still posture it rests on one foot, folds back
its neck, and reclines its head on its shoulder. It watches the motions
of reptiles with a keen eye, and commonly preys on frogs, lizards,
serpents, and small fish, which it finds in marshes by the sides of the
streams, and in wet vales.
It walks like the crane with long measured strides. When irritated or
discomposed, or influenced by affection to its mate, it makes with its
bill a repeated clattering, which the ancients express by the
significant words _crepitat_ and _glotterat_,[424] and which Petronius
accurately marks by the epithet _crotalistria_,[425] formed from
_crotalum_, the castanet or rattle. In this state of agitation it bends
its head back, so that the lower mandible appears uppermost, the bill
lies almost parallel on the back, and the two mandibles strike violently
against each other; but in proportion as it raises up its neck the
clattering abates, and ceases when the bird has resumed its ordinary
posture. This is the only noise the stork ever makes, and, as it seems
dumb, the ancients supposed it had no tongue.
The stork does not lay more than four eggs, oftener not more than two;
they are of a dirty and yellowish white, rather smaller, but longer than
those of a goose. The male sits when the female goes in quest of food;
the incubation lasts a month; both parents are exceedingly attentive in
bringing provisions to the young, which rise up to receive it, and make
a sort of whistling noise. The male and female never leave the nest at
once; but, while the one is employed in searching for prey, the other
stands near the spot on one leg, and keeps an eye constantly on the
brood. When first hatched the young are covered with a brown down, and
their long slender legs not having yet strength enough to support them,
they creep upon their knees. When their wings begin to grow, they essay
their force in fluttering about the nest; though it often happens that
in this exercise some of them fall, and are unable to regain their
lodgment. After they venture to commit themselves to the air, the mother
leads and exercises them in small circumvolutions around the nest, and
conducts them back. About the latter end of August, when the young
storks have attained strength, they join the adults, and prepare for
migration.
The Greeks have placed the rendezvous of the storks in a plain of Asia,
called the “Serpent’s District,” where they congregated, as they do now
in some parts of the Levant, and even in Europe, as in Brandenburg and
elsewhere. Shaw says, in his Travels, “It is remarked that the storks
before they pass from one country into another, assemble a fortnight
beforehand, from all the neighbouring parts, in a plain; holding once a
day a _divan_, as they say in that country, as if their object was to
fix the precise time of their departure and the place of their retreat.”
When they convene previous to their departure, they make a frequent
clattering with their bill, and the whole flock is in tumultuary
commotion; all seem eager to form acquaintance, and to consult on the
projected route, of which the signal in our climate is the north wind.
Then the vast body rises at once, and in a few seconds is lost in the
air. Klein relates, that having been called to witness this sight he was
a moment too late, and the whole flock had already disappeared. Indeed
this departure is the more difficult to observe, as it is conducted in
silence, and often during the night. Belon says, that their departure is
not remarked, because they fly without noise or cries, while the cranes
and wild-geese, on the contrary, scream much on the wing. It is
asserted, that in their passage, before they venture to cross the
Mediterranean, they alight in great numbers in the neighbourhood of Aix
in Provence. Their departure appears to be later in warm countries; for
Pliny says, that “after the retreat of the stork it is improper to sow.”
It was remarked by the Jewish prophet, that “the stork in the heaven
knoweth her appointed time,” (Jeremiah viii. 7.;) but though the
ancients observed the migrations of these birds, they do not seem to
have been certain as to the countries of their retirement. Modern
travellers acquaint us more accurately. “It is perfectly ascertained,”
says Belon, “that the storks winter in Egypt and in Africa; for we have
seen the plains of Egypt whitened by them in the months of September and
October. At that season, when the waters of the Nile have subsided, they
obtain abundance of food; but the excessive heats of summer drive them
to more temperate climates; and they return again in winter, to avoid
the severity of the cold: the contrary is the case with the cranes,
which visit us with the geese in winter, when the storks leave us.” This
remarkable difference is owing to that of the climates which these
birds inhabit; the geese and ducks come from the north, to escape the
rigours of the winter; the storks leave the south, to avoid the
scorching heats of summer. It was a common opinion in the time of
Albertus Magnus that the storks do not retire in winter, but lurk in
caverns, or even at the bottom of lakes. Klein relates, that two storks
were dragged out of the water in the pools near Elbing. Gervais of
Tillebury speaks of other storks that were found clustered in a lake
near Arles; Merula, in Aldrovandus, speaks of some which fishermen drew
out of the lake of Como; and Fulgosus, of others that were fished near
Metz. Martin Schoockius, who wrote a treatise on the stork in 1648,
supports these testimonies. But the history of the migrations of the
storks is too well known, not to attribute to accidents the facts just
mentioned, if they indeed may be relied on.
Belon says, that he saw storks wintering round Mount Amanus, near
Antioch; and passing about the end of August towards Abydus, in flocks
of three or four thousand, from Russia and Tartary. They cross the
Hellespont; and on the summits of Tenedos divide into squadrons, and
disperse themselves northwards.
Dr. Shaw says, that about the middle of May, 1722, “Our vessel, being
anchored under Mount Carmel, I saw three flocks of storks, each of which
was more than three hours in passing, and extended a half mile in
breadth.” Maillet relates, that he saw the storks descend, towards the
end of April, from Upper Egypt, and halt on the grounds of the Delta,
which the inundation of the Nile soon obliges them to leave.
Crows sometimes intermingle with the storks in their passage, which has
given rise to the opinion of St. Basil and Isidorus, that the crows
serve to direct and escort the storks. The ancients also speak much of
the combats between the storks and ravens, jays, and other species of
birds, when their flocks, returning from Lybia and Egypt, met about
Lycia and the river Xanthus.
Storks, by thus removing from climate to climate, never experience the
severities of winter; their year consists of two summers, and twice they
taste the pleasures natural to the season. This is a remarkable
peculiarity of their history; and Belon positively assures us, that the
stork has its second brood in Egypt.
It is said, that storks are never seen in England, unless they are
driven upon the island by some storm. Albin remarks, as a singular
circumstance, that there were two of these birds at Edgeware, in
Middlesex; and Willoughby declares, that a figure which he gives was
designed from one sent from the coast of Norfolk, where it had
accidentally dropped. Nor does the stork occur in Scotland, if we judge
from the silence of Sibbald. Yet it often penetrates the northern
countries of Europe; into Sweden, over the whole of Scania, into
Denmark, Siberia, Mangasea on the river Jenisca, and as far as the
territories of the Jakutes. Great numbers are seen also in Hungary,
Poland, and Lithuania. They are also met with in Turkey, and in Persia,
where Bruyn observed their nest carved on the ruins of Persepolis; and
according to that author, they are dispersed through the whole of Asia,
except the desert parts, which they seem to shun, and the arid tracts,
where they cannot subsist.
Aldrovandus assures us, that storks are never found in the territory of
Bologna; they are rare even through the whole of Italy, where
Willoughby, during a residence of twenty-eight years, saw them only
once. Yet it appears, from Pliny and Varro, that anciently they were
there common; and we can hardly doubt but that, in their route from
Germany to Africa, or in their return, they must pass over Italy and the
islands of the Mediterranean. Kœmpfer affirms, that they reside the
whole year in Japan; which therefore, if he is correct, is the only
country where they are stationary; in all others, they retire a few
months after their arrival. In France, Lorraine and Alsace are the
provinces where these birds are the most numerous; there they breed; and
few towns or villages in Lower Alsace are without storks’ nests on their
belfries.
The stork is of a mild disposition, neither shy nor savage; it is easily
tamed; and may be trained to reside in our gardens, which it will clear
of insects and reptiles. It has almost always a grave air, and a
mournful visage; yet, when roused by example, it shews a certain degree
of gaiety; for it joins the frolics of children, hopping and playing
with them. Dr. Hermann, of Strasburg, says, “I saw in a garden, where
the children were playing at hide and seek, a tame stork join the party,
run its turn when touched, and distinguish the child, whose turn it was
to pursue the rest, so well as to be on its guard.” In the domestic
condition the stork lives to a great age, and endures the severities of
our winters. Heerkens, of Groningen, author of a Latin poem on the
stork, says that he kept one fifteen years; and speaks of another which
lived twenty-one years in the fish-market of Amsterdam, and was interred
with solemnity by the people. Olaus Borrichius mentions a stork aged
more than twenty-two years, which became gouty.
To the stork are ascribed the virtues of temperance, conjugal fidelity,
and filial and paternal piety. There is a history, famous in Holland, of
“the Delft stork;” which, in the conflagration of that city, after
having in vain attempted to rescue her young, perished with them in the
flames. It is certain, that the stork bestows much time on the education
of its young, and does not leave them till they have strength sufficient
for their defence and support; when they begin to flutter out of the
nest, the mother bears them on her wings, protects them from danger, and
sometimes perishes with them rather than she will forsake them. The
stork shows tokens of attachment to its old haunts, and even gratitude
to the persons who have treated it with kindness. It has been heard to
rap at the door in passing, as if to tell its arrival, and give a like
sign of adieu on its departure. But these moral qualities are nothing in
comparison of the affection and tender offices which these birds lavish
on their aged and infirm parents. The young and vigorous storks
frequently carry food to others, which, resting on the brink of the
nest, seem languid and exhausted, either from accidental injuries or the
infirmities of years.
The ancients assert, that nature has implanted in brutes this venerable
piety, as an example to man, in whose breast the delicious sentiment is
often obliterated. The law which compelled the maintenance of parents
was enacted in honour of the stork, and inscribed by its name.
Aristophanes draws from its conduct a bitter satire on the human race.
Ælian alleges, that the moral qualities of the stork were the chief
cause of the respect and veneration which it enjoyed among the
Egyptians; and the notion which the common people among whom it resorts
still entertain, that its settling on a house betokens prosperity, is
perhaps a vestige of the ancient opinion.
An ancient writer affirms, that the storks, worn out with old age,
repair to certain islands in the ocean, where, in reward for their
piety, they are changed into men. In auguries, the appearance of the
stork denoted union and concord. Its departure in the time of public
calamity was regarded as a dismal presage; Paul, the deacon, says, that
Attila, having purposed to raise the siege of Aquileia, was determined
to renew his operations, upon seeing storks retiring from the city and
leading away their young. In hieroglyphics it signified piety and
beneficence, virtues which its name expressed in the most ancient
languages; and we often see the emblem, as on the two beautiful medals
of L. Antonius, given in Fulvius Ursinus, and in two others of Q.
Metellus, surnamed “the Pious,” as reported by Paterculus. Dr. Shaw
says, that the Mahometans have a great esteem and veneration for it. It
is almost as sacred among them as the ibis was among the Egyptians; and
they would look upon a person as profane, who should kill or even harm
it. So precious were storks held in Thessaly, which country they cleared
of serpents, that the slayer of one of these birds was punished with
death. They were not eaten among the Romans; and a person who, from a
strange sort of luxury, ordered one to be brought to his table, drew
upon himself the direful obloquy of the whole people. Nor is the flesh
of this bird recommended by its quality--formed by nature for our
friend, and almost our domestic, it was never destined to be our
victim.[426]
[423] _Boer_ in the low countries, and _Bauer_ in Germany, signifies a
farmer.
[424] Quæque salutato crepitat concordia nido. _Juvenal_, Sat. I.