larly serviceable to the animal itself, either during its migrations or its stay: by it the flock is encouraged in their journeys; and if, while they are feeding, which is usually performed in profound silence, they are invaded on any side, the bird that first perceives the danger is sure to sound the alarm, and all are speedily upon the wing.

As they rise but heavily, they are very shy birds, and seldom let the fowler approach them. Their depredations are usually made in the darkest nights; at which time they enter a field of corn, and trample it down, as if it had been crossed over by a regiment of soldiers. On other occasions they choose some extensive solitary marsh, where they range themselves all day, as if they were in deliberation; and not having that grain which is most to their appetites, wade the marshes for insects, and other food, which they can procure with less danger.

Corn is their favourite food; but there is scarcely any other that comes amiss to them. Redi, who opened several, found the stomach of one full of the herb called dandelion; that of another was filled with beans; a third had a great quantity of clover in its stomach; while that of two others was filled with earth-worms and beetles: in some he found lizards and sea fish; in others, snails, grass, and pebbles, swallowed, perhaps, for medical purposes. It seems, therefore, that these birds are easily supplied, and that they are noxious to corn fields but on some particular occasions.

In general it is a peaceful bird, both in its own society, and with respect to those of the forest. Though so large in appearance, a little falcon pursues, and often disables it. The method is, with those who are fond of hawking, to fly several hawks together against it, which the crane endeavours to avoid, by flying up perpendicularly, till the air becomes too

thin to support it any higher. The hawk, however, still bears it company; and though less fitted for floating in so thin a medium, yet, possessed of greater rapidity, it still gains the ascendency. They both often rise out of sight; but soon the spectator, who keeps his eye fixed above, perceives them, like two specks, beginning to appear: they gather on his eye for a little space, and shortly after come tumbling perpendicularly together, with great animosity on the side of the hawk, and a loud screaming on that of the crane. Thus driven to extremity, and unable to fly, the poor animal throws itself upon its back, and in that situation makes a most desperate defence, till the sportsman coming up, generally puts an end to the contest with its life..

It was once the barbarous custom to breed up cranes to be thus baited, and young ones were taken from the nest to be trained up for this cruel diversion. It is an animal easily tamed; and, if we can believe Albertus Magnus, has a particular affection for man. This quality, however, was not sufficient to guard it from being made a victim of his fierce amusements. The female, which is easily distinguished from the male, by not being bald behind as he is, never lays above two eggs at a time, being like those of a goose, but of a bluish colour. The young ones are soon fit to fly, and then the parents forsake them to shift for themselves; but, before this time, they are led forth to the places where their food is most easily found. Though yet unfledged, they run with such swiftness that a man cannot easily overtake them. We are told, that as they grow old their plumage becomes darker; and, as a proof of their longevity, Aldrovandus assures us, that a friend of his kept one tame for above forty years.

Whatever may have been the disposition of the great, the vulgar of every country, to this day, bear

the crane a compassionate regard. It is possible the ancient prejudices in its favour, which, once having been planted, are eradicated but slowly, may still continue to operate. In some countries it is considered as a heinous offence to kill a crane; and though the legislature declines to punish, yet the people do not fail to resent the injury. The crane they in some measure consider as the prophet of the season: upon its approach or delay they regulate the periods of their rural economy. If their favourite bird comes early in the season, they expect a plentiful summer; if he is slow in his visits, they then prepare for an unfavourable spring. Whatever wisdom there may be in despising the prejudices of the vulgar, there is but little in condemning them. They have generally had their origin in good motives; and it should never be our endeavours to suppress any tender emotions of friendship or pity, in those hard breasts that are in general unsusceptible

of either.

CHAPTER III

THE STORK.

If we regard the Stork externally only, we shall be very apt to confound it with the crane. It is of the same size; it has the same formation as to the bill, neck, legs, and body, except that it is something more corpulent. Its differences are but very slight; such as the colour, which in the crane is ash and black, but in the stork is white and brown. The nails of the toes of the stork also are very peculiar, not being clawed like those of other birds, but flat like the nails of man.

These, however, are but very slight differences; and its true distinctions are to be taken rather from its manners than its form. The crane has a loud piercing voice; the stork is silent, and produces no other noise than the clacking of its under chap against the upper: the crane has a strange convolution of the windpipe through the breast-bone; the stork's is formed in the usual manner: the crane feeds mostly upon vegetables and grain; the stork preys entirely upon frogs, fishes, birds, and serpents: the crane avoids towns and populous places; the stork lives always in or near them: the crane lays but two eggs, and the stork generally four. These are distinctions fully sufficient to mark the species, notwithstanding the similitude of their form.

Storks are birds of passage, like the former; but it is hard to say whence they come, or whither they go. When they withdraw from Europe, they all assemble on a particular day, and never leave one of their company behind them. They take their flight in the night, which is the reason the way they go has never been observed. They generally return into Europe in the middle of March, and make their nests on the tops of chimnies and houses, as well as of high trees. The females lay from two to four eggs, of the size and colour of those of geese, and the male and female sit upon them by turns. They are a month in hatching; and when their young are excluded, they are particularly solicitous for their safety.

As the food of these birds consists in a great measure of frogs and serpents, it is not to be wondered at that different nations have paid them a particular veneration. The Dutch are very solicitous for the preservation of the stork in every part of the republic. This bird seems to have taken refuge among their towns, and builds on the tops of their houses

without any molestation. There it is seen resting familiarly in the streets, and protected as well by the laws as the prejudices of the people. They have even got an opinion that it will only live in a republic; and that story of its filial piety, first falsely propagated of the crane, has in part been ascribed to the stork. But it is not in republics alone that the stork is seen to reside, as there are few towns on the continent, in low marshy situations, but have the stork as an inmate among them; as well the despotic princes of Germany, as the little republics of Italy.

The stork seems a general favourite even among the moderns; but with the ancient Egyptians their regard was carried even to adoration. This enlightened people, who worshipped the Deity in his creatures, paid divine honours to the Ibis, as is universally known. It has been usually supposed that the ancient ibis is the same with that which goes at present by the same name; a bird of the stork kind, of about the size of a curlew, all over black, with a bill very thick in the beginning, but ending in a point for the better seizing its prey, which is caterpillars, locusts, and serpents. But however useful the modern ibis may be in ridding Egypt, where it resides, of the vermin and venomous animals that infest it, yet it is much doubted whether this be the same ibis to which the ancients paid their adoration. Maillet, the French consul at Cairo, observes, that it is very hard to determine what bird the ancient ibis certainly was, because there are cranes, storks, hawks, kites, and falcons, that are all equal enemies to serpents, and devour a vast number. He farther adds, that in the month of May, when the winds begin to blow from the internal parts of Africa, there are several sorts of birds that come down from Upper Egypt, from whence they are driven by the rains,