Story of the Bible Animals: A Description of the Habits and Uses of every living Creature mentioned in the Scriptures, with Explanation of Passages in the Old and New Testament in which Reference is made to themWood, J. G. (John George)
Religion
Story of the Bible Animals: A Description of the Habits and Uses of every living Creature mentioned in the Scriptures, with Explanation of Passages in the Old and New Testament in which Reference is made to them
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Animals in the Bible; Nature in the Bible
The wings of the Stork, which are mentioned in Holy Writ, are very
conspicuous, and are well calculated to strike an imaginative mind.
The general colour of the bird is white, while the quill feathers
of the wings are black; so that the effect of the spread wings is
very striking, an adult bird measuring about seven feet across,
when flying. As the body, large though it may be, is comparatively
light when compared with the extent of wing, the flight is both
lofty and sustained, the bird flying at very great height, and, when
migrating, is literally the "stork in the heavens."
Next we come to the migratory habits of the Stork.
Like the swallow, the Stork resorts year after year to the same
spots; and when it has once fixed on a locality for its nest, that
place will be assuredly taken as regularly as the breeding-season
comes round. The same pair are sure to return to their well-known
home, notwithstanding the vast distances over which they pass, and
the many lands in which they sojourn. Should one of the pair die,
the other finds a mate in a very short time, and thus the same home
is kept up by successive generations of Storks, much as among men
one ancestral mansion is inhabited by a series of members of the
same family.
So well is this known, that when a pair of Storks have made their
nest in a human habitation their return is always expected, and
when they arrive the absentees are welcomed on all sides. In many
countries breeding-places are specially provided for the Storks; and
when one of them is occupied for the first time, the owner of the
house looks upon it as a fortunate omen.
The localities chosen by the Stork for its nest vary according to
the surrounding conditions. The foundation which a Stork requires is
a firm platform, the more elevated the better, but the bird seems to
care little whether this platform be on rocks, buildings, or trees.
If, for example, it builds its nest in craggy places, far from the
habitations of man, it selects some flat ledge for the purpose,
preferring those that are at the extreme tops of the rocks. The
summit of a natural pinnacle is a favourite spot with the Stork.
In many cases the Stork breeds among old ruins, and under such
circumstances it is fond of building its nest on the tops of
pillars or towers, the summits of arches, and similar localities.
When it takes up its abode among mankind, it generally selects the
breeding-places which have been built for it by those who know its
taste, but it frequently chooses the top of a chimney, or some such
locality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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