stork

Hebrew: 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 Israel, 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 Israel 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 (King James Version), instead of the expression “or wings and feathers unto the ostrich” (marginal note, “the feathers of the stork and ostrich”), the Revised King James Version has “are her pinions and feathers kindly” (marginal note, 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 (5:9) alludes to the beauty and power of the stork's wings.