Category:Stork

Stork, n. Etym: [as. storc; akin to g. storch, ohg. storah, icel. Storkr, dan. & sw. stork, and perhaps to gr. (zoöl.)

Defn: any one of several species of large wading birds of the family Ciconidæ, having long legs and a long, pointed bill. They are found Both in the old world and in america, and belong to ciconia and Several allied genera. The european white stork (ciconia alba) is the Best known. It commonly makes its nests on the top of a building, a Chimney, a church spire, or a pillar. The black stork (c. nigra) is Native of asia, africa, and europe. Black-necked stork, the east Indian jabiru. -- hair-crested stork, the smaller adjutant of india (leptoptilos Javanica). -- giant stork, the adjutant. -- marabou stork. See marabou. -- saddle-billed stork, the african jabiru. See jabiru. -- stork's bill (bot.), any plant of the genus pelargonium; -- so Called in allusion to the beaklike prolongation of the axis of the Receptacle of its flower. See pelargonium.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Stork - Heb. hasidah, meaning "kindness," indicating thus the character of the bird, which is noted for its affection for its young. It is in the list of birds forbidden to be eaten by the Levitical law (Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18). It is like the crane, but larger in size. Two species are found in Palestine, the white, which are dispersed in pairs over the whole country; and the black, which live in marshy places and in great flocks. They migrate to Palestine periodically (about the 22nd of March). Jeremiah alludes to this (Jeremiah 8:7). At the appointed time they return with unerring sagacity to their old haunts, and re-occupy their old nests. "There is a well-authenticated account of the devotion of a stork which, at the burning of the town of Delft, after repeated and unsuccessful attempts to carry off her young, chose rather to remain and perish with them than leave them to their fate. Well might the Romans call it the pia avis!" In Job 39:13 (A.V.), instead of the expression "or wings and feathers unto the ostrich" (marg., "the feathers of the stork and ostrich"), the Revised Category:Version has "are her pinions and feathers kindly" (marg., instead of "kindly," reads "like the stork's"). The object of this somewhat obscure verse seems to be to point out a contrast between the stork, as distinguished for her affection for her young, and the ostrich, as distinguished for her indifference. Zechariah (Zechariah 5:9) alludes to the beauty and power of the stork's wings.