School: Bellanagare (roll number 2968)
- Location:
- Bellanagare, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Seán Mac Dochair
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0244, Page 122
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Bellanagare
- XML Page 122
- XML “Composition - Bird-Lore”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- Birds are divided into two classes, migratory birds and birds that remain with us the whole year round. The migratory birds are the cuckoo, the swallow, and the corncrake. The birds that remain with us always are the thrush, blackbird, robin, wren and many others. The robin is a very small bird of a brown colour with a red breast. It is said that when Our Lord was dying on the cross a drop of His blood fell on the robin's breast and that is why every robin has a red breast.
The swallow is a migratory bird and builds her nest in the eaves of houses. Her nest id made of clay, straw and feathers. When the swallows fly high it is a sign of rain. Those birds leave the country in the end of September. The cuckoo comes in April and leaves in (September) July. She doesn't build a nest but lays her eggs on the ground takes them to the nest of another bird and there they are hatched. The nest they are taken to is usually the hedge - sparrow. All young birds looks upon the cuckoo as an enemy because they chase her from tree to tree.
The corn-crake arrives in April and remains with us to the middle of September. The bird is found in the meadow and in long grass. It makes its(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Mary Geraghty
- Gender
- Female
- Informant
- Michael Geraghty
- Gender
- Male
- Age
- 65
- Address
- Bellanagare, Co. Roscommon
