The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-12-18
STORIES OF STORKS.
A BIRD THAT DISPLAYS AN lNTELLl-
GENCE ALMOST HUMAN.

0ENCE AEMOOi FOMFNN.
Their Regular Annual Visit to Strasburg.
Meetings at which the storles Undoubt-
edIy Discuss Their Ahairs and Reach
Conclusions.
Twenty years ago resided at Stras-
burg in the vicinity of the old Protes-
tant church called the Temple Neup.
1t was structure built wholly of brick,
somewhat unsightly, very large and
capped by an immense roof. The church
had no spire, and the choir, which was
detached from the nave, at that time
sheltered the municipal library. All
that was since destroyed by the bonn
bardment.
Regularly every year, between the
10th and goth of August, all the storks
of the city came toward evening to meet
at the Temple Neup They arrived from
the neighboring ohimneys, old and
young, and placed themselves in long
row upon the comb of the roof 1t was
q curious scene to see all those big
white birds, with their slender bills,
mounted upon their slender stills They
tapped their wings, standing first on
one and then on the other leg, while
making that noise quite peculiar to
storks called ''clapper. Some old ones
were busily flying here and there, as II
to give out the countersign. Messengers
were dispatched to the stragglers to
hasten their arrival.
The meeting lasted at least one hour,
after which each family retired to its
nest, to return next evening at the same
hour Again the inspection was gone
through by the elders and the counter
sign repeated This parting review was
renewed three or four times in success
sion, and one fine morning the Stras-
burgers observed with regret that all
the storks had vanished.
The habit of annual migrations
among storl1s is as old as the world
Pliny the Elder, who persisted ON the
/ day when Pompeii and Herculaneum
disappeared, testifes to that effect. In
his History of Nature" he expresses
| himself as follows:
Whence come the storks, and with
er do they go? It is still problem. No
doubt they come from afar, the same as
the cranes The latter travel in the sum
mer, the storks in the winter. No one
fails to come to the meeting unless sick
or prisoner. They depart all at once,
as if the day were fixed by law. No one
ever saw them leave although they
make no secret of their intentions. We
observe soon enough that they have
uoine back, although no one saw them
arrive The arrival and departure inva
riably take place at night. +"
What was said of the storks IS cen
turtles ago is still the truth. These beasts
are too intelligent to change their hab
it's 1t is quite certain that their migra
tions are concerted The time is decided
upon and the place selected. The con
situations do not transpire without dis
cussion Everything is not harmonious
at first The young the inexperienced,
want to remain little longer. The old
and wise, the veteran travellers, insist
upon departure They argue that the
autumn rains beat down the insects,
which then seek refuge in the ground.
Thenceforth food becomes scarcer-''we
must seek milder climates. But the
way there is immense. Distant noun
tains, seas and deserts must be traversed.
Winds are variable, and all kinds Of
perils must be affronted. However, the
feebler ones take heart in thinking of
the large number of their travelling COM
panions and the pleasure of basking in
q warmer sun. The day Of departure is
fixed
Where do the storks go to spend the
winter? In warmer latitudes, in Greece,
in Arabia, around Mount Sinai and
Egypt and throughout Africa down to
the cape of Good Hope.
Eat Basic, says Toussenel, Gin a
room of the city hall, is stuffed stork
whose body is pierced through by an
African arrow from the vicinity of the
cape. This accident had not hindered
the bird from starting with the others
on their northern voyage. y
The storks return to Alsaoe in the
spring, and the same couple reoccupy
the same nest. These nests are invaria-
bly, installed on the top of ohimneys,
which, in Strassburg, are high and
broad and generally in groups of three
or four the upper surface thus consti-
tutes sort of platform overlapping the
lateral openings whence escapes the
smoke. 1t is thus that storks establish
their domicile, affecting the disposition
of basket, lined inside with straw,
feathers and down, warm bed for the
eggs to be Matched in.
The valley of the Rhine seems to be
resort of prediction for the race Of
storks From Basic all the way to Hol-
land you find storks dwelling ON the
chimney tops. Today France has no
longer any storks. She lost them when
she lost Alsace.
Wherever the storks reside, whether
on oriental minarets or on the church
steeples Of Germany, everywhere they
are revered by the people They are
sacred birds 1t is incontestable that
storks render valuable service. They are
the foes of snakes and other reptiles,
moles, field mice and every sort of YER
min. They are seen gravely following
the pillow and devouring the larvae of the
May bug, which the furrow turns to
the light Never sportsman fires at
stork have to think that the immu-
nifty which this bird enjoys is due to its
virtues. 1t would distress me to think
that it is respected only because its flesh
is unpalatable. However that may be,
old legends regard the stork as bird of
good omen. French of Maurice Engel-
hard.