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, Lev 11:19 Deu 14:18 . The psalmist says, “As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house,” Psa 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.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Stork
Stork. This goose-sized bird looks ungainly in flight, with its legs dangling and its wings slowly flapping. But people in Palestine were always glad to see the storks on their yearly migration from Europe to Africa. Storks had the reputation of bringing good luck. If they were numerous, surely crops would be good. Farmers welcomed storks because they helped their crops by eating insects.
Both black and white storks were often seen in Palestine. White storks nest as high as possible– often on chimneys. But since houses in the Holy Land had low, flat roofs, they nested instead in the fir trees (Psa 104:17). In spite of their commendable features, storks were considered unclean (Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18).
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Stork
(, chasidah; translated indifferently by the Sept. , , ; Vulg. herodio, herodius, milvus; A.V. stork, except in Job 39:13, where it is translated wing [stork in the marg.]; but there is some question as to the correct reading in this passage). SEE OSTRICH. In the following account we present the ancient and the modern information.
I. Identification of the Scriptural Allusions. The Sept. does not; seem to have recognized the stork under the Hebrew term , otherwise it could scarcely have missed the obvious rendering of , or have adopted in two instances the phonetic representation of the original (whence, no doubt, Hesych. , ). It is singular that a bird so conspicuous and familiar as the stork must have been both in Egypt and Palestine should have escaped notice by the Sept., but there can be no doubt of the correctness of the rendering of the A.V. The Hebrew term is derived from the root , whence , kindness, from the maternal and filial affection of which this bird has been in all ages the type.
There are two kinds of stork, the Ciconia alba, and the C. nigra. In Egypt the two species collectively are called anaseh, the white, more particularly, belari; in Arabic zakid, zadig (?), abuhist, heklek, hegleg, and haji luglug, the three last mentioned expressing the peculiar clatter which storks make with their bills, and haji, or pilgrim, denoting their migratory habits. This quality several of the Western names likewise indicate, while our word stork, albeit the Greek implies natural affection, is an appellation which extends to the Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Lettish, and Wallachian languages, and is presumed originally to have been stor eger, i.e. migrating heron, with which the Greek agrees in sound but has no affinity of meaning, though it corroborates the interpretation of chasidah in the Hebrew, similarly implying affection, piety, mercy, and gratitude. This name results from a belief, general through all ancient Asia, in the attachment of these birds to each other; of the young towards the old, and of the parents towards their young. But the latter part of this opinion is alone verified by the moderns, in cases where the mother bird has perished while endeavoring to save her progeny. This occurred in the great fire at Delft, and more recently at the battle of Friedland, where, a fir tree with a stork’s nest in it being set on fire by a howitzer shell, the female made repeated efforts to extricate her young, and, at length, as in the other case, was seen to sink in the flames. Without, therefore, admitting the exaggerated reports or the popular opinions of the East respecting the stork, enough is shown to justify the identification of chasidah with the bird, notwithstanding that some learned commentator have referred the word to heron, and to several other birds though none upon investigation are found to unite in the same degree the qualities which] are ascribed to the species in Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18; Job 39:13; Psa 104:17; Jer 8:7; Zec 5:9.
Agyst, the Russian (?) name of the stork according to Merrick, does not appear to be, related to the Hebrew, unless it could be shown that the Estonian aigr, or aigro, applied to the same bird, and the old Teutonic aigel, Danish hegre, Italian and Provencal arione, aigron, denominations of the common heron, are from the same source, and not primitive appellatives in the great Northern family of languages, which, it must be confessed, are not solitary examples in vocabularies so remote from each other. Of the smaller sized, more solitary, black stork, no mention need be made in this place, because it is evidently not the bird referred to in the sacred writers.
II. Description and Habits.
1. Generally. Storks are about a foot less in height than the crane, measuring only three feet six inches from the tip of the bill to the end of the toes, and nearly the same to the end of the tail. They have a stout, pointed, and rather long bill, which, together with their long legs, is of a bright scarlet color; the toes are partially webbed, the nails at the extremities flat, and but little pointed beyond the tips of the joints. The orbits are blackish, but the whole bird is white, with the exception of a few scapulars, the greater wing covers, slid all the quills, which are, deep black; these are doubly scalloped out, with those nearest the body almost as long as the very foremost in the wing. This is a provision of nature enabling the bird more effectually to sustain its after weight in the air a faculty exceedingly important to its mode of flight, with its long neck and longer legs equally stretched out, and very necessary to a migrating species believed to fly without alighting from the Lower Rhine, or even from the vicinity of Strasburg, to Africa, and to the Delta of the Nile. The passage is performed in October, and, like that of cranes, in single or in double columns, uniting in a point to cleave the air; but their departure is seldom seen, because they generally start in the night; they always rise with clapping wings, ascending with surprising rapidity out of human sight, and arriving at their southern destination as if by enchantment. Here they reside until the last days of March, when they again depart for the north, but more leisurely and less congregated.
A feeling of attachment, not without superstition, procures them an unmolested life in all Moslem countries, and a notion of their utility still protects them in Switzerland, Western Germany, and particularly in Holland, where they may be seen (at Middelburg) walking with perfect composure in a crowded vegetable market. Storks build their nests in pine, fir, cedar, and other coniferous trees, but seem to prefer lofty old buildings, towers, and ruins there are always several located on the tops of the isolated pillars at Persepolis; and they often obstruct the muezzins by nestling in their way about the summits of the minarets which these servants of the mosques must ascend to call the congregation to prayer. Several modern writers still assert the filial affection of young storks, which they describe as assisting their aged parents when they cannot any longer fly with vigor, and as bringing them food when unable to provide for themselves. Without entirely rejecting the fact of affectionate relations among these birds, it may be remarked that storks live to a good old age; and as they have a brood (sometimes two) every year, the question is, which of these takes charge of the decrepit parents? It cannot be the youngest, not as yet of sufficient strength, nor those of preceding years, which are no longer in their company. Besides, the weaker birds remain and breed in the south.
May it not be conjectured that much of this belief is derived from a fact which travelers have had an opportunity of witnessing, though they could not distinguish whether the flight was composed of cranes or storks? On an exceedingly stormy day, when their southward course has been suddenly opposed by a contrary gale, may be seen a column of birds still persisting in their toil but at a lower elevation, and changing their worn out leader; and the bird, on taking his station in the rear, is clearly attended for a moment by three or four others of the last, who quit their stations as of to help him to reach the wake of the line. With regard to the snake-eating habits of the species, the marabou, or adjutant bird of; India, often classed with storks is undoubtedly a great devourer of serpents, but not so much so as the common peacock, and that domestic fowls are active destroyers of the young of reptiles may be observed even in England, where they carry off and devour small vipers. The chief resort, however, of storks, for above half the year, is in climates where serpents do not abound; and they seem at all times to prefer eels, frogs, toads, newts, and lizards, which sufficiently accounts for their being regarded as unclean (perhaps no bird sacred in Egypt was held clean by the Hebrew law). Storks feed also on field mice; but they do not appear to relish rats, though they break their bones by repeated blows of their bills.
2. Distinctively. The white stork (Ciconia alba, L.) is one of the largest and most conspicuous of land birds standing nearly four feet high, the; jet black of its wings and its bright-red beak and legs contrasting finely with the pure white of its plumage (Zec 5:9, They had wings like the wings of a stork). It is placed by naturalists near the heron tribe, with which it has some affinity, forming a connecting link between it and the spoonbill and ibis, like all of which, the stork feeds on fish and reptiles, especially on the latter. In the neighborhood of man it readily devours all kinds of offal and garbage. For this reason, doubtless, it is placed in the list of unclean birds by the, Mosaic law (Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18). The range of the white stork extends over the whole of Europe, except the British isles, where it is now only a rare visitant, and over Northern Africa and Asia, as far at least as Burmah.
The black stork. (Ciconia nigra, L.) though less abundant in places, is scarcely less widely distributed, but has a more easterly range than its congener. Both species are very numerous in Palestine. the white stork being universally distributed, generally in pairs, over the whole country; the black stork living in large flocks, after the fashion of herons, in the more secluded and marshy districts. Tristram met with a flock of upwards off fifty black, storks feeding near the west shore of the Dead Sea. They are still more abundant by the Sea of Galilee, where also the white stork is so numerous as to be gregarious, and in the swamps, round the waters of Merom.
3. Social Character and Traditional References. While the black stork is never found about buildings, but prefers marshy places in forests, and breeds on the tops of the loftiest trees where it heaps up its ample nest far from the haunts of man, the white stork attaches itself to him and for the service which it renders in the destruction, of reptiles and the removal of offal has been repaid from the earliest times by protection and reverence. This is especially the case in the countries where it breeds. In the streets of towns in Holland, in the villages of Denmark, and in the bazaars of Syria and Tunis it may be seen stalking gravely among the crowd, and woe betide the stranger either in Holland or in Palestine who should dare to molest it. The claim of the stork to protection seems to have been equally recognized by the ancients. Sempr Rufus, who first ventured to bring young storks to table, gained the following epigram, on the failure of his candidature for the praetorship:
Quanquam est duobus elegantior
Plancis Suffragiorum puncta non tulit septem.
Ciconiarum populus ultus est mortem.
Horace contemptuously alludes to the same sacrilege in the lines.
Tutoque ciconia nido,
Donec vos auctor docuit praetorius (Sat. 2, 2, 49).
Pliny (Hist. Nat. 10, 21) tells us that in Thessaly it was a capital crime to kill a stork, and that they were thus valued equally with human life in consequence of their warfare against serpents. They were not less honored in Egypt. It is said that at Fez, in Morocco, there is an endowed hospital for the purpose of assisting and nursing sick cranes and storks, and of burying them when dead. The Marocains hold that storks are human beings in that form from some distant islands (see note to Brown’s Pseud. Epid. 3, 27, 3). The Turks in Syria point to the stork as a true follower of Islam, from the preference he always shows for the Turkish and Arab over the Christian quarters. For this undoubted fact, however, there may be two other reasons– the greater amount of offal to be found about the Moslem houses, and the persecutions suffered from the skeptical Greeks, who rob the nests, and show none of the gentle consideration towards the lower animals which often redeems the Turkish character. Strickland (Mem. and Papers, 2, 227) states that it is said to have quite deserted Greece since the expulsion of its Mohammedan protectors. The observations of travelers corroborate this remark. Similarly the rooks were said to be so attached to the old regime that most of them left France at the Revolution a true statement, and accounted for by the clearing of most of the fine old timber which used to surround the chateaux of he noblesse.
As already noted, the derivation of points to the parental and filial attachment of which the stork seems to have been a type among the Hebrews no less than the Greeks and Romans. It was believed that the young repaid the care of their parents by attaching themselves to them for life, and tending them in old age. Hence it was commonly called among the Latins avis pia. (See Laburnus, in Petronius Arbiter; Aristotle, Hist. Anim. 9, 14; and Pliny, Hist. Nat. 10, 32.) Pliny also notices their habit of always returning to the same nest. Probably there is no foundation for the notion that the stork so far differs from other birds as to recognize its parents after it has become mature; but of the fact of these birds returning year after year to the same spot there is no question. Unless when molested by man, storks’ nests all over the world are rebuilt or rather repaired, for generations on the same site, and in Holland the same individuals have been recognized for many years . That the parental attachment of the stork is very strong has been proved on many occasions. The above-mentioned tale of the stork at the burning of the towns of Delft has often been repeated, and seems corroborated by unquestionable evidence. The name of the bird itself, as we have seen, is expressive of the same fact. Its watchfulness over its young is unremitting, and often shown in a somewhat droll manner. Tristram was once in camp near an old ruined tower in the plain of Zana, south of the Atlas, where a pair of storks had their nest. The four young might often be seen from a little distance, surveying the prospect, from their lonely height; but whenever any of the human party happened to stroll near the tower, one of the old storks, invisible before, would instantly appear, and, lighting on the nest, put its foot gently on the necks of all the young, so as to hold them down out of sight till the stranger had passed, snapping its bill meanwhile, and assuming a grotesque air of indifference and unconsciousness of there being anything under its charge.
Few migratory birds are more punctual to the time of their reappearance than the white stork, or, at least, from its familiarity and conspicuousness, its migrations have been more accurately noted. The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times (see Virgil; Georg. 2, 319, and Petron. Sat.). Pliny states that it is rarely seen in Asia Minor after the middle of August. This is probably a slight error, as the ordinary date of its arrival in Holland is the second week in April, and it remains until October. In Denmark Judge Boie, noted its arrival from 1820 to 1847. The earliest date Was March 26, and the latest April 12. (Kjaerbolling; Danmarks Fugle, p. 262). In Palestine it has been observed to arrive on March 22. Immense flocks of storks may be seen on the banks of the Upper Nile during winter, and some few farther west, in the Sahara; but it does not Sappar to migrate very far south, unless; indeed, the birds that are seen at the Cape of Good Hope in December be the same which visit Europe. The stork has no note, and the only sound it emits is that caused by the sudden snapping of its long mandibles, well expressed by the epithet crotalistria in Petron. (quasi , to rattle the castanets). From the absence of voice probably arose the error alluded to by Pliny, Sunt qui ciconiis non inesse linguas confirment.
Some unnecessary difficulty has been raised respecting the expression in Psa 104:17, As for the stork the fir trees are her house. In the West of Europe the home of the stork is connected with the dwellings of man; and in the East, as the eagle is mentally associated with the most sublime scenes in nature so, to the traveler at least, is the stork with the ruins of man’s noblest works. Amid the desolation of his fallen cities throughout Eastern Europe and the classic portions of Asia and Africa, we are sure to meet with them surmounting his temples, his theaters, or baths. It is the same in Palestine. A pair of storks have possession of the only tall piece of ruin in the plain of Jericho; they are the only tenants of the noble tower of Richard Coeur-de-Lion at Lydda; and they gaze on the plain of Sharon from the lofty tower of Ramleh (the ancient Arimathea). So they have a pillar at Tiberias, and a corner of a ruin at Nebi Mousseh. And no doubt in ancient times the sentry shared the watch tower of Samaria or of Jezreel with the cherished storks. But the instinct of the stork seems to be to select the loftiest and most conspicuous spot he can find where his huge nest may be supported; and whenever he can combine this taste with his instinct for the society of man, he naturally selects a tower or a roof. In lands of ruins, which from their neglect and want of drainage supply him with abundance of food, he finds a column or a solitary arch the most secure position for his nest; but where neither towers nor ruins abound he does not hesitate to select a tall tree, as both storks, swallows, and many other birds must have done before they were tempted by the artificial conveniences of man’s buildings to desert their natural places of nidification. Thus the golden eagle builds, according to circumstances, in cliffs, on trees, or eye on the ground; and the common heron, which generally associates on the tops of the tallest trees, builds in Westmoreland and in Galway on bushes. It is therefore needless to interpret the text of the stork merely perching on trees. It probably was no less numerous in Palestine when David wrote than now; but the number of suitable towers must have been far fewer, and it would therefore resort to trees.
Though it does not frequent trees in South Judaea, yet it still builds on trees by the Sea of Galilee, according to several travelers; and Tristram remarks that, while he has never seen the nest except on towers or pillars in that land of ruins, Tunis, the only nest he ever saw in Morocco was on a tree. Varro (Re Rustica, 3, 5) observes, Advenae volucres pullos faciunt, in agro ciconio, in tecto hirudines. All modern authorities give instances of the white stork building on trees. Degland mentions several pairs which still breed in a marsh near Chalons- sur-Marne (Orn. Europ. 2, 153). Kjaerbolling makes a similar statement with respect to Denmark, and Nillson also as to Sweden. Bdeker observes that in Germany the white stork builds in the gables, etc., and in trees, chiefly the tops of poplars and the strong upper branches of the oak, binding the branches together with twigs, turf, and earth, and covering the flat surface with straw, moss, and feathers (Eier Eur. pl 36 The black stork, no less common in Palestine, has never relinquished its natural habit of building upon trees. This species, in the northeastern portion of the land, is the most abundant of the two (Harmer’s Obs. 3, 323). Of either, however, the expression may be taken literally that the fir trees are a dwelling for the stork.
II. Literature. The classical descriptions may be found in Aristot. Anim. 1, , 13 [14 ed. Schneid.]; Solin. 53; AElian. Anim. 3, 23; Pliny, H.N. 10, 16, 28. Modern authorities are, Bochart, Hieroz. 3, 85 sq.; Oedmann, Samml. 5, 58 sq.; Kitto, Pict. Bible,. note on Lev 11:19 Phys. Hist. of Palest. p. 405 sq.; Tristram; Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 242 sq.; Wood, Bible Animals, p. 478 sq.; Thomson, Land and Book, 1, 503 sq.; and most books of Oriental travel. SEE BIRD.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
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 (Lev. 11:19; Deut. 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 (Jer. 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 Version has “are her pinions and feathers kindly” (marg., instead of “kindly,” reads “like the stork’s”). The object of this somewhat obscure verse See ms 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 (5:9) alludes to the beauty and power of the stork’s wings.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Stork
Four feet high, with jet black wings and bright red beak and legs (Zec 5:9). Chacidah, the white stork, Ciconia, alba, unclean because of its unclean feeding (Lev 11:19). From Hebrew chacid, “dutiful,” “piously affectionate.” The black stork is more common in the East (but Septuagint translated “heron”.) Its confiding nature toward man, its utility in clearing away offal and reptiles, its attachment to its young, and kindness to the old and feeble, its grave contemplative look, and its predilection for pinnacles of temples, mosques, and churches, have made it in all ages an object of man’s special regard and protection; so that in Thessaly it was a capital crime to kill a stork (Pliny, H. N. 10:21).
In the burning of Delft formerly, and more lately in the battle of Friedland, a mother stork, having vainly tried to extricate her young, perished in the flames herself. The stork punctually observes “her appointed times” of migration at the end of March and beginning of April; in Holland she remains until October. Storks’ nests, unless disturbed, are rebuilt for generations on the same site (Jer 8:7). Regularly they return every spring from their winter abodes in sunnier climes, but God’s people will not return to Him even when “the winter” of His wrath is past and He invites them back to “the spring” of His favor. They build their large nests in lofty trees, in the absence of lofty towers and ruins, to which their liking for man’s society attracts them (Psa 104:17). (On Job 39:13, sSee OSTRICH.)
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Stork
STORK (chsdh, Lev 11:19, Deu 14:18, Job 39:13, Psa 104:17, Jer 8:7, Zec 5:9).The stork (Arab [Note: Arabic.] , abu said father of good luck) is a bird much loved in Palestine, where in its migration northwards it arrives in the spring (Jer 8:7); it does great good by clearing the crops of caterpillars and locusts: when the storks arrive plentifully, it is anticipated that the harvests will be unusually good. These birds may be seen walking through the grain or circling round and round in groups high in the heavens. No doubt this powerful flight caused its wings to be noted (Job 39:13, Zec 5:8). No native would dream of harming it; its sacred character may have caused it to be an unclean bird (Lev 11:19, Deu 14:18). Its Heb. name, implying lovingkindness, was given because of its tender care of its young. The above remarks apply specially to the white stork (Ciconia alba); a black stork (C. nigra) has also been identified in the Holy Land.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Stork
stork (, hasdhah; variously rendered in the Septuagint: Lev 11:19, , erodios; Deu 14:18, , pelekan; Job 39:13, , hasida (transliteration of Hebrew); Zec 5:9, (, epops; Latin Ciconia alba): A large wading bird of the family Ardeidae, related to crane, ibis, heron and bittern. The stork on wing is a bird of exquisite beauty. The primary, secondary and a few of the tertiary wing feathers are black, the remainder, also the head, neck, and back and under parts white, the bill and legs red. When a perching white bird suddenly unfolds these wonderful wings, having at times a sweep of 7 ft., and sails away, it makes a very imposing picture. Zechariah in a vision saw a woman having the wings of a stork; Zec 5:9, Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between eaxth and heaven. These birds winter in Africa. In their spring migration many pairs pause in Palestine, others cross the Mediterranean and spread over the housetops, ruins and suitable building-places of Europe as far north as Rolland and England. Always and everywhere the bird has been more or less protected on account of its fidelity to a chosen location, its fearlessness of man and the tender love between mated pairs and for its young.
The stork first appears among the birds of abomination, and it is peculiar that the crane does not, for they are closely related. But the crane eats moles, mice, lizards and smaller animals it can capture, also frogs and fish. To this same diet the stork adds carrion and other offensive matter, and the laws of Moses, as a rule, are formulated with good reason. Yet at one time, storks must have been eaten, for Pliny quoted Cornelius Nepos, who died in the days of Augustus Caesar, as saying that in his time storks were holden for a better dish at board than cranes. Pliny adds: Yet see, how in our age now, no man will touch a stork if it be set before him on the board, but everyone is ready to reach into the crane and no dish is more in request. He also wrote that it was a capital crime in Thessaly to kill storks, because of their work in slaying serpents. This may have been the beginning of the present laws protecting the bird, reinforced by the steady growth of respect and love for its tender, gentle disposition. The Hebrew word hadhah, from which the stork took its name, means kindness.
There is a smaller stork having a black neck and back, that homes in Palestine, but only in small numbers as compared with the white. These birds flock and live in forests around the borders of waste and desert places, and build in trees. The young of both species remain a long time in the nest and are tenderly cared for, so much so indeed that from their performances and love of building on housetops arose the popular tradition that the stork delivers newly born children to homes. The birds first appear in Lev 11:19 and Deu 14:18. Jeremiah noticed that the stork was migratory; see Jer 8:7 : Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Yahweh. The Psalmist referred to their nesting in the cedars of Lebanon, for in Palestine these birds could not build on housetops, which were flat, devoid of chimneys and much used by the people as we use a veranda today; see Psa 104:17 : Where the birds make their nests: As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Stork
Fig. 323Stork
The Hebrew name of this bird implied affection, from the belief general throughout all ancient Asia in the attachment of these birds to each other, and some have supposed that their English name has a similar derivation. The strength of the affection of the parent birds towards their young has been verified by the moderns, in cases where the mother bird has perished while endeavoring to save her progeny.
Storks are about a foot less in height than the crane, measuring only three feet six inches from the tip of the bill to the end of the toes, and nearly the same to the end of the tail. They have a stout, pointed, and rather long bill, which, together with their long legs, is of a bright scarlet color; the toes are partially webbed, the nails at the extremities flat, and but little pointed beyond the tips of the joints. The orbits are blackish, but the whole bird is white, with the exception of a few scapulars, the greater wing covers, and all the quills, which are deep black: they are doubly scalloped out, with those nearest the body almost as long as the very foremost in the wing. This is a provision of nature, enabling the bird more effectually to sustain its after weight in the air; a faculty exceedingly important to its mode of flight with its long neck, and longer legs equally stretched out, and very necessary to a migrating species believed to fly without alighting from the lower Rhine, or even from the vicinity of Strasburg, to Africa, and to the Delta of the Nile. The passage is performed in October, and, like that of cranes, in single or in double columns, uniting in a point to cleave the air; but their departure is seldom seen, because they start generally in the night: they rise always with clapping wings, ascending with surprising rapidity out of human sight, and arriving at their southern destination as if by enchantment. Here they reside until the last days of March, when they again depart, for the north, but more leisurely and less congregated. A feeling of attachment, not without superstition, procures them an unmolested life in all Muslim countries, and a notion of their utility still protects them in Switzerland, Western Germany, and Holland. Storks build their nests in pine, fir, cedar, and other coniferous trees, but seem to prefer lofty old buildings, towers, and ruins. With regard to the snake-eating habits of the species, the chief resort of storks, for above half the year, is in climates where serpents do not abound: and they seem at all times to prefer eels, frogs, toads, newts, and lizards; which sufficiently accounts for their being regarded as unclean. Storks feed also on field mice; but they do not appear to relish rats, though they break their bones by repeated blows of their bills.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Stork
chasidah. There are three particulars mentioned in scripture respecting this bird.
1. It makes its nest in the fir trees. Psa 104:17. This agrees with the stork; it is a large bird, and selects a tree that is high and yet one that will well support its nest.
2. It is represented as in the heaven. Jer 8:7. The stork flies very high, especially when migrating.
3. It has powerful wings. Zec 5:9. This also agrees with the stork, its wings extending to more than six feet. The same Hebrew word occurs in Job 39:13; see margin.
The word chasidah is kindred to the word translated ‘merciful,’ and the bird is remarkable for its tender care, not only of its young, but of the aged. In the Levitical list it is classed among the unclean birds. Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18. This we might expect, as it feeds upon mice, snakes, and other reptiles, etc.
Both the black stork (ciconia nigra ), and the white stork (c. alba ) are numerous in Palestine. The former associate together in secluded and marshy districts, often in flocks. White storks prefer the habitations of man, where they roam about the streets, devouring the offal. They are much respected, and it would fare ill with any one who would injure them. In some places they are of much value on account of their attacks upon the serpents.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Stork
Forbidden as food
Lev 11:19
Nest of, in fir trees
Psa 104:17
Migratory
Jer 8:7
Figurative
Zec 5:9
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Stork
Stork, the pious. A bird of passage, much like the crane, but larger. It feeds on insects, snails, frogs, and offal, and was reckoned among unclean birds. The common stork (Ciconia alba) stands nearly four feet high, and is white except the extremities of the wings, which are black. Its long legs enable it to seek its food in the water as well as on the land, and its bill is so formed as to retain its slippery prey. In Palestine it builds its nest on trees. Psa 104:17. “The beauty and power of the stork’s wings are seized on as an illustration by Zechariah:’The wind was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a stork.’ Zec 5:9. The black pinions of the stork, suddenly expanded from their white body, have a striking effect, having a spread of nearly seven feet, and the bird on the wing, showing its long, bright-red bill and steering itself by its long red legs, stretched out far behind its tail, is a noble sight. The stork has no organs of voice, and the only sound it emits is caused by the sharp and rapid snapping of its bill, like the rattle of castanets.”Tristram.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Stork
Stork. (Hebrew, chasidah). A large bird of passage of the heron family; one of the largest and most conspicuous of land birds, standing nearly four feet high, the jet black of its wings and its bright red beak and legs contrasting finely with the pure white of its plumage. Zec 6:9. In the neighborhood of man, it devours readily all kinds of offal and garbage. For this reason, doubtless, it is placed in the list of unclean birds by the Mosaic law. Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18.
The range of the white stork extends over the whole of Europe, except the British isles, where it is now a rare visitant, and over northern Africa and Asia, as far at least as Burmah. The black stork, (Ciconia nigra), though less abundant in places, is scarcely less widely distributed, but has a more easterly range than its congener. Both species are very numerous in Palestine. While the black stork is never found about buildings, but prefers marshy places in forests and breeds on the tops of the loftiest trees, the white stork attaches itself to man, and, for the service which it renders in the destruction of reptiles and the removal of offal, it has been repaid from the earliest times by protection and reverence.
The derivation of chasidah, (from chesed, “kindness”). Points to the paternal and filial attachment of which the stork seems to have been a type, among the Hebrews, no less than the Greeks and Romans. It was believed that the young repaid the care of their parents by attaching themselves to them for life, and tending them in old age. That the parental attachment of the stork is very strong has been proved on many occasions, Few migratory birds are more punctual to the time of their reappearance than the white stork. The stork has no note, and the only sound it emits is that caused by the sudden snapping of its long mandibles.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Stork
, Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18; Job 39:13; Psa 104:17; Jer 8:7; Zec 5:9; a bird similar to the crane in size, has the same formation as to the bill, neck, legs, and body, but is rather more corpulent. The colour of the crane is ash and black; that of the stork is white and brown. The nails of its toes are also very peculiar; not being clawed like those of other birds, but flat like the nails of a man. It has a very long beak, and long red legs. It feeds upon serpents, frogs, and insects, and on this account might be reckoned by Moses among unclean birds. As it seeks for these in watery places, nature has provided it with long legs; and as it flies away, as well as the crane and heron, to its nest with its plunder, therefore its bill is strong and jagged, the sharp hooks of which enable it to retain its slippery prey. It has long been remarkable for its love to its parents, whom it never forsakes, but tenderly feeds and cherishes when they have become old, and unable to provide for themselves. The very learned and judicious Bochart has collected a variety of passages from the ancients, in which they testify this curious particular. Its very name in the Hebrew language, chasida, signifies mercy or piety: and its English name is taken, if not directly, yet secondarily, through the Saxon, from the Greek word , which is often used for natural affection.
The stork’s an emblem of true piety; Because, when age has seized and made his dam
Unfit for flight, the grateful young one takes His mother on his back, provides her food, Repaying thus her tender care of him
Ere he was fit to fly.
BEAUMONT.
It is a bird of passage, and is spoken of as such in Scripture: The stork knoweth her appointed time, Jer 8:7.
Who bid the stork, Columbus like, explore
Heavens not its own, and worlds unknown before?
Who calls the council, states the certain day, Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way?
POPE.
Bochart has collected several testimonies of the migration of storks. AElian says, that in summer time they remain stationary, but at the close of autumn they repair to Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. For about the space of a fortnight before they pass from one country to another, says Dr. Shaw, they constantly resort together, from all the adjacent parts, in a certain plain; and there forming themselves, once every day, into a douwanne,’ or council, (according to the phrase of these eastern nations,) are said to determine the exact time of their departure, and the place of their future abodes. See SWALLOW.