School: Killina (Pres. Convent)

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1. Bird-Lore

   

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   Bird Lore
   The wild birds that are commonly known in this district are the robin, thrush, starling, wagtail, blackbird, swallow, lark, chaffinch, cuckoo and crow. In Summer the cuckoo the corncrake and the swallow come to this country and they are to be seen and heard during the fine warm days. The blackbird and thrush build their nests in a thick hedgerow or in a messy bank and very often beside a brook. The swallows build their nests in the eaves of houses and in the roofs of cow-houses. They are made of hair and mud and your after year the swallow returns to the nest she made the previous year where she lays her eggs and hatches out her young. An old saying is "if you rob a swallow's nest the cows will milk blood" The robin's carefully woven nest of hair and moss is found in a bush or in an old wall, and the lark's is found in a meadow or field of corn. Deep in the prickly shelter of a gorse bush is the place to find the nest of a chaffinch. Other birds that are commonly known in this district are the magpie and the wood-quest or ring dove. The magpie builds a large nest of sticks lined with hair having only a small hole in the side of it for the bird to pass through. The wood-quest's nest is built in a tall tree with merely sticks left across each other. She always lays two eggs and very often they are blown from the nest by the wind. It is believed that when Our Lord was dying, a robin stood at the foot of the cross on which He was nailed, and a drop of this blood fell on the robin's breast and coloured it, ever since it has been bee known as robin-red-breast. Weather is sometimes judged by the birds. When the swallows fly low, almost touching

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. agents (~1)
      1. animal-lore (~1,185)
         1. bird-lore (~2,478)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Kathleen Guinan

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Roscore Demesne, Co. Offaly