ARMS OF THE STOREY AND STORY FAMILIES.
Persians catch the heron, and after depriving it of its long feathers, suffer it to depart
(Chantins
Trawls, p. 82). Heron plumes formed a part of the royal coronet of the Persian sovereign. The Indians
also, who arc very choice in feathers, hold heron feathers in high estimation for ornamenting their hair
or top-knot, and in New Orleans tufts or bunches of heron's feathers have long been offered for sale in
the market place. It is not improbable that the notion of head-dresses with waving plumes was derived from
several species of the birds in question; for though the crest of the common heron is small, and
proportionately inconspicuous, that of the egret
(Ardea-egretta), and still more of the demoiselle
(Anthropoides Virgo, Viellott) is exceedingly elegant. In the latter a tuft of very long white
silky feathers flows gracefully down from above each eye, while the feathers of the neck and breast are
pendent for nearly a toot over the other parts of the plumage. Their tail feathers were, however, mostly
in demand. The great heron
(Ardea Herodias) erects a spacious platform of sticks, covered with
small twigs, on the top of a tall cedar, a community often of fifteen pairs, usually building in company.
Many of their breeding places are near to the sea. In Carolina and in New Jersey the gloomy solitudes of
the tallest cedar swamps are only disturbed by the occasional hollow scream of the heron and the
melancholy chirping of one or two species of small birds, says Wilson. Quite an interesting bird is the
Nycticorax Germanis, or Qua heron, known as the night heron, and called the Qua because of its
uttering a note sounding like this word. The tokay in Siam is called in a similar manner after its
expression. Both terms are of course onomatopoetic. Aristotle, Pliny, and Ælian state that a
friendship existed between the crow and the heron; an opinion which M. Montbeillard imagines to have
originated in their sometimes building their nests contiguous to each other. In consequence of their
selecting similar breeding places, but we think this is not at all probable, since the crow is a solitary
and unsociable bird. If the rook has been meant, the following interesting circumstance, which occurred
at Dallam Tower about the end of the eighteenth century, somewhat confirms this alleged friendship,
although, like human alliances, it was subject to the interruption of rival interests. "There were," says
Dr. Heysham, a Lancastrian, long settled at Carlisle, " two groves adjoining to Dallam Park; one of which
for many years had been resorted to by a number of herons, which there built and bred; the other was one
of the largest rookeries in the country. The two tribes dwelt together for a long time without any
disputes. At length the trees occupied by the herons, consisting of some very fine old oaks, were cut down
in the spring of 1775, and the young had perished by the fall of the timber. The parent birds immediately
set about preparing new habitations in order to breed again; but all the trees in the neighbourhood of
their old nests were only of a late growth, and not sufficiently high to secure them from the depredations
of boys, therefore they determined to effect a settlement in the rookery. The rooks made an obstinate
resistance, but after a very violent contest, in the course of which many of the rooks, and some of their
antagonists lost their lives, the herons at last succeeded in their attempt, built their nests, and
brought out their young."
Dr. Heysham says that "the next season the contests were renewed, the victory being with the herons.
Since that time peace seems to have been agreed upon between them; the rooks relinquished possession of
that part of the grove which the herons occupy; the herons confine themselves to those trees they first
seized upon, and the two species live together in as much harmony as they did previous to their quarrel."
(See Dr. Heysham in Bewick's Birds, vol. ii., p. 11, note.)
Very probably the Stor, Stork, Story and Storey families adopted as a chief charge the stork, the crane
or the heron owing to the fact that they originally dwelt near the haunts of these birds; and probably
they were largely identified with heronries and falconries, tor the Stories have never been mean or
indifferent sportsmen. Then again, the stork and the crane were largely esteemed by the Norsemen. North
of England men, Borderers, together with many Scottish, are of Norse descent.
Regarding the stork. Coates, in his " Dictionary of Heraldry," 8vo., published in 1739, says: " The stork
is the emblem of a faithful son and represents love, honour, obedience, aid, and succour" (p. 319).
