CHAPTER XV THE STORK "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times." -JEREMIAH. THE stork first appeared in the Bible among the birds of abomination, and it is remarkable that the crane did not also; for the birds are relatives, and of such similar habit that one would think Moses would have classed them together. Yet the distinction he made was observed down to the Christian era, for Pliny quoted Cornelius Nepos, who died in the days of Augustus Cæsar, as saying "that in his time storks were holden for a better dish at the board than cranes.' Pliny added, And yet see, how in our age now, no man will touch a stork if it be set before him on the board, but every one is ready to reach into the crane, and no dish is more in request.' He also wrote, "Storks are so highly regarded for the slaying of serpents in Thessaly, it is regarded as a capital crime to kill a stork, and by law he is punished as in case of manslaughter." This stringent law may account for the hesitancy of Italians of early days about tasting stork meat. Death penalties are not things with which men trifle. If the bird ate snakes in the land of Moses, we need no other explanation as to why it was placed among the abominations. This feeling concerning these birds seems to exist today, for although of the same family, I do not know of stork being eaten anywhere, while cranes are a regular article of commerce in our country. Their meat is considered very good by the people of our Western Coast. The Hebrew "hasidah," meaning kindness, is translated stork. So undoubtedly these birds were named in remote ages by men who first began to study and note their habits. The great care the old birds exercise over their young, and their tenderness to each other, may have originated the idea that formerly prevailed that these birds remained in families and recognized the ties of birth all their lives. For this reason it was stated constantly by early writers that in old age the storks were cared for by their young, being fed when blinded, lame, or unable to fly. The storks of the Bible were migratory birds. They came up in clouds from interior Africa, crossed the Red Sea, and part of them settled in Palestine, the others kept on across the Mediterranean or skirting the east coast, entered and spread over Europe to the north as far as England and Holland. They had the peculiar habit of travelling in the daytime, and their flight was strong and high. The last of March, when spring had arrived in Palestine, some bright day Merom, Galilee, the Jordan, and Jabbok suddenly were peopled with hungry storks searching for lizards, frogs, snakes, and any small animal, large insect, or water resident. Great flocks of these birds settled over ruins near marshes and water, by lakes and rivers in cultivated places, and in forests near the water; while cloud after cloud passed on further north. In pointing out the carelessness of the people, Jeremiah called attention to the wisdom of the birds in watching the seasons and following them. He said, "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times," which proved that he had been observing the birds; and then he added, "but my people know not the ordinances of the Lord." The splendid picture these birds made in flight so impressed Zechariah, the man who was given to seeing visions, that in the instance of the ephah of lead and the talent he said of the two women he saw bearing away the ephah, "The wind was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a stork." These birds came with the showers and renewal of spring, settled in every available spot all over Palestine, and began housekeeping. Workers in the fields saw the home life of those by the rivers; fishermen were familiar with them around lakes of fresh water, and where rivers entered the salt seas; herdsmen of the plains and waste places watched those over ruins; but I doubt if they entered cities and nested on the housetops, as they love to do elsewhere, for those people used the housetops themselves. The birds were conspicuous, for they were large, standing nearly three feet, and having a sweep of almost seven feet. They were white, and made a wonderful spectacle on wing as they soared against the blue, purple, and red skies of the Orient, or stood a snowy picture fishing among the rushes of lake margin or river. There was also a black stork, having black on the beak and neck. It was a smaller bird and wilder, keeping more to desert and wilderness places. Soon after arrival they paired and began house-building in the case of young couples mating for the first time, or old birds that found their former nests destroyed. For these birds build one nest, and return to it for generations unless there is an accident. David had watched their nesting and described it in a poem : "The trees of the Lord are satisfied; The cedars of Lebanon, which He hath planted: As for the stork, the fir trees are her house." What a wonderful place Lebanon must have been! No wonder her trees were satisfied," and that the birds flocked there to nest! It is a happy tree whose branches are upholding a number of beautiful bird homes, whose leaves shelter tender, open-mouthed young, and that makes choir lofts for singers raising an unceasing chorus of pure joy in living and praise of the Almighty. I know the storks nested all over Palestine, from marshes to rocky mountain crags; but David said the fir trees are her house," and I so love David that I like to picture this bird as at home in the tree that he pointed out in particular as hers. People to-day are inclined to think of the stork as a bird of the housetop, and of Holland as its home; but it must be remembered these houses of Bible lands were very different of structure, and the time was in the days when birds were more accustomed to building in trees. So the headwaters of the Jordan, which rises in the mountains of Lebanon, far to the north of Canaan, and over the mountains down to Lake Merom; all over Mt. Hermon, and along the waters of the hill country toward Damascus, were their locations. They especially loved Lebanon. Lebanon with her skies red from the reflected sands of Syrian deserts; Lebanon, alternately warmed by the hot breath of the sirocco and cooled by the sea breezes so near; Lebanon, with her rivers, valleys, and high mountains with her air perfumed by the heavy fragrance of blooming spring flowers, fruit bloom, tree bloom, and her hills and valleys covered with budding camphire, acacia, and many varieties of spice bushes, and every breath heavy with the exhilaration of the resinous odour of cedar, cypress, and fir. In Lebanon's great fir trees, with their flat branches making splendid foundations, the big white storks found their houses. Mated pairs renewed their yearly vows, and repaired their former abodes. Young ones courted strenuously, the males dancing and performing many antics, extremely queer to those watching, but captivating to their loved ones. For the storks have been noticed in all lands and times for their tender and affectionate love between pairs and young. People in later days in Holland have so marked these birds before migration that there could be no doubt but the same ones returned in the spring. Unquestionably, storks mate for life. At In the big, dark fir trees of the Holy Land they built their homes, laid their eggs, and raised their young. They fished in the waters, and hunted frogs and lizards over the mountains. To their varied diet found by water edges, on mountain sides and plains, they added reptiles, offal, and garbage, which of course had something to do with placing them among the abominations." home they made an exquisite picture of snowy contrast against their dark-green background, or when fishing; and seen against the Oriental skies on wing they were wonderful to behold. I think Solomon showed the beauty of the house of the white stork among the fir trees to the Queen of Sheba when he took her to the treasure chamber in the forest of Lebanon. I wish that all of us could have been there to have seen such an impressive picture. CHAPTER XVI THE RAVEN "Consider the raven, that they sow not, neither reap: Which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them."-JESUS, BIRDS were first mentioned in the Bible in the Mosaic account of creation, where the great law-giver specifically indicated their serpentine origin when he wrote, "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of the heaven. The first bird specifically mentioned was the raven. der this name Bible writers included the whole family of crows, rooks, jackdaws, and ravens, all of which are old birds in history, and abounded in great numbers in the land of Canaan. Un The dove gets all the credit for finding dry land at the time of the flood, and yet it was a raven that was first sent forth to make this discovery. You read in the records of Moses, 'And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: and he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.” Noah had a reason for all the things he did, and so no doubt he spent some thought upon which bird messenger he should send winging over the face of the flood to bring tidings of the going down of the waters. He knew why he first sent out a raven, and it is little trouble to fathom his reason. The bird was big and strong, nearly two feet in length, with a fifty-two inch wing sweep, and sustained its flight well. Also, in all time it had made more use of its brain than any other bird. Ravens can do the wisest, most uncanny things. They are fearless, impudent, |