and would not eat for some time; but finding it swallow a few small fish after a few days had elapsed, I thought there was some chance of its living, and immediately constructed a sort of house for it, by parting off a portion of a flower-border with wire netting, and placing a large sod of thick grass in the far corner, and a basin of water, which was refilled every other day. The inclosure had a wall on the north and west sides; the south divided him by a gravel walk from a fine brown Eagle, which, like the poor Bittern, had been removed from his early home before he had any feathers; and on the east side, a couple of tame Hawks were shut up in a cage similar to the Bittern's.

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As the bird's strength increased, he would make occasional attempts to break the meshes of the wire, but ultimately gave it up, and kept himself quiet in his grassy nook, except when disturbed by any one coming near him, when he would draw his neck and head down between his wings, sit on his haunches, and snap his beak loudly and quickly, as a warning to come no nearer : at one or two of my family, and they the least likely to annoy him, he would spring forward with open beak and crest erect, but proved himself an arrant coward, when they stopped and looked fixedly at him. He would then slowly retreat, facing the enemy all the while, till he gained his place of security, where he would snap his beak most viciously. This was his usual habit; even when fed, he made a feint of catching the man by the leg, but never did more than affect an attack. He never showed the slightest attachment to any one, though he could discriminate between individuals (as in the case of particular dislike to my wife and daughter), but was invariably prepared to defend himself, as

CHAP. VII.]

MANNERS IN CAPTIVITY.

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if anticipating an attack. We generally got fish for him, but when that was impracticable, he would eat anything that was given to him, swallowing little birds entire, feathers and all. He would not refuse a rat, though he could only swallow it by slow degrees, the gullet distending to an amazing size. During the five years we had him, he seemed to enjoy perfect health, with one short exception-a swelling or hard tumour in the neck, which was cut out, and he resumed his usual condition.

"I fear there was some neglect in the severe winter of '47. The only change in his accommodation was hanging a mat in front of his inclosure, and this was omitted for several nights. One morning he was found dead, and on examiation his craw was well filled with food, and his condition good; no cause for death being found, the coroner, the man who always fed and attended him, brought in a verdict of died from cramp in the stomach!

"I do not think he was much regretted; his unsocial, unloving disposition gained him no friends; he certainly has found more admirers in his present quiet, beautiful state of preservation, in which he maintains his usual position of defence, than he ever did with ruffled plumes in life. The attitude is a crouching position, in appearance something like that of a hen brooding her chickens, though in intention more analogous to a serpent coiled preparatory to his spring. Indeed, when stretched out at length, as was his wont, he bore no little resemblance to one of the serpent tribe.

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During the calm summer nights, I was frequently awoke with his very peculiar cry or boom; this call was continued for about two months, June and July, and

nearly all the night-boom!'-' boom!'-in a loud yet pleasant tone. Some Owls that were confined near him also did now and then to the moon complain, on which occasions the Bittern would swell his voice to its utmost power, trying to drown their more feeble cry; but when the Eagle at an earlier period of the year shrieked its desire for companionship and liberty, the Bittern never noticed him, though during the months of January and February his cry in the night is somewhat startling.

"I think we had a Bittern nearly five years. Our Eagle we have had eight or nine; he was brought from Nova Scotia by a timber ship; the captain kept him in a crate, and when brought to me had only a few wing feathers appearing: he is a noble fellow, and is looked on with as much affection as any of my domestic pets."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE WHITE STORK.

A model of virtue.-Ancient instances and modern explanations.-Gratitude.-The charm of ideality. - Captive Storks best in pairs. The Dutch and

English modes of pinioning.-Delight at liberation.-Jealousy, muteness, and politeness.-Mode of fishing.- Diet.-Services rendered. -Sad misadventure. -Habits in captivity.-Congregation of Storks in Sweden.-Antiquated notions. -The Stork's departure and return.

WHо teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?"*

Good lessons are to be learned of the Stork. According to Aldrovandi, Gratitude, Temperance (though one hardly sees how that can be), Chastity, Parental and Filial Affection, are virtues attributed to it of yore. The old birds, when weak and infirm, are believed to be sedulously fed by the young, in honourable remembrance of which, the Lex Pelargica, or law compelling the maintenance of parents by their children, derived its title from the agys, or Stork. This, say ancient authors, is the ground of the respect and forbearance with which they have been treated, first by the Egyptians, and subsequently by modern nations.

The Stork foresees the imminent storming of cities, and departs before the enemy enters. This fact cannot be doubted, if the besiegers happen to be hard at work in the month of August. Its prudence is manifest in always leaving and returning to its summer haunts

*Job xxxv. 11.

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"The

stealthily by night. Its order and punctuality are equally admirable: "The Stork knoweth her appointed time," and keeps to it, and travels in the form of a disciplined army, not of a disorderly rabble. The Stork," says Plutarch, "though neither sheltered nor fed by us, nor bound by any protection or assistance, still pays a rental for the spot it occupies by destroying the reptiles which are noxious to us." Another author* mentions a payment of a more precious nature. Stork returning year by year to the same nest, throws out to the lord of the place one of its young ones ready plucked, by way of tribute; nay, even it is commonly said, it also makes an offering of a tithe Storkling, satisfying in this manner every just demand, in token of which it refuses both to dwell in and to enter Thuringia, where tithes are not paid, as experience teaches.” Perhaps they are equally scrupulous about church rates, the shabby resistance to which may have disgusted them with certain localities in England, and rendered their rare visits to this country still fewer and more far between. However, such is the notion; although it is suspected that the Stork has perhaps tossed out of the nest dead birds that it has been unable to rear. The creature too has its political prejudices, though it adheres to them no more firmly than other liberal wanderers, who are glad of a comfortable home, even within the boundaries of a monarchy. "That Storks are to be found," saith Sir Thomas Browne, "and will only live in Republics or free States, is a pretty conceit to advance the opinion of popular policies, and from Antipathies in nature, to disparage Monarchical Government; but how

* De Rerum Naturâ, quoted by Aldrovandi.