| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| STORK | Its Hebrew name signifies kindness or mercy, and its Greek name natural affection, probably because of the tenderness which it is said to manifest towards its parents-never, as is reported, forsaking them, but feeding and defending them in their decrepitude. In modern times, parent storks are known to have perished in the effort to rescue their young from flames; and it has been a popular, but perhaps ill-founded opinion, that in their migratory flights, the leader of the flock when fatigued is partially supported by others as he falls into the rear. In Jer 8:7, allusion is made to the unerring instinct of the stork as a bird of passage, and perhaps to its lofty flight: "the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times." Moses places it among unclean birds, Le 11:19 De 14:18. The psalmist says, "As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house," Ps 104:17. In the climate of Europe, she commonly builds her nest on some high tower or ruin, or on the top of a house; but in Palestine, where the coverings of the houses are flat, she builds in high trees. The stork has the beak and legs long and red; it feeds on field mice, lizards, snakes, frogs, and insects. Its plumage would be wholly white, but that the extremities of its wings, and some small part of its head and thighs, are black. It sits for the space of thirty days, and lays but four eggs. Storks migrate to southern countries in August, and return in the spring. They are still the objects of much veneration among the common people in some parts of Europe and Asia. |