WAR OF THE AIR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 148, 10 July 1937, Page 9

WAR OF THE AIR

Storks Defeat Eagies - After a prolonged battle, storks have defeated eagies in the latest phase of a bitter war of the air 'in Turkey. Hostilities took place over Afion Karahissar^ in Anatolia, and flocks of storks darkened the sky over Istanbul as. they sped to help their companions in battle. These reinforcements proved euccessful and, helped by the local population, whose Moslem belief is that the stork represents the symbol of maternal . solicitude, the storks fmally routed the eagies. Both "amios" sustained heavy losses, and the city's refuse carts wero constantly employed in clearing the streeta of eagle and stork corpsea during the lighting. The first outburst of enmity between Uie storks and eagies took place in tho early summer of 1934, when six eagies attacked a stork 's nest and ate the voung in the village of Orkhangazi, in Anatolia. A little later the eagies trierl to raid a neighbouring nest, but the parenls of tho voung storks tliat had been nlready eaten were joined by 200 other storks — all thirstiiig for re.veuge. Srvooping down on the guilty eagies and their support ers. they lsille--] 20 and wnuuded 50 otheTs. Yearly battles which have followed have not exhausted the "vendetta" and, thirsting for the cagles' blood, the storks are exixected agiu to attack their foes, which. dospite their losses, retnrn ouch year eager to fight.