School: Knockcommon (roll number 16549)

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1. Bird-Lore (continued)

   

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   nests may be found in trees and some on house-tops. Others are seen in bushes, in banks or in the grass. Usually the robin builds in a bank.

   The Sky-lark's nest among the grass,
   And waving corn is found.
   The robin's on a shady bank
   With oak leaves strewed around.

   Upon the roof of the farmstead the chirruping of the sparrows never ceases, the livelong day. It is amusing to see them in the nesting season carrying up long straws or feathers, towing their burden through the air with evident labour. These they sometimes drop just as they arrive at their destination.
   The old folks of the neighbourhood still retain some superstitions about the swallows looking on them as sacred and not to be killed or interfered with. They will not have their nests knocked down. If the swallows do not return to the eaves but desert their nests it is a sign that some misfortune is coming to the household. The swallows seldom fail to come back to their old haunts in Spring and soon begin to repair their nests or build new ones with mortar from the roads.

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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

   Rita Gallagher

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Gilltown, Co. Meath