School: Ferbane (Convent)
- Location:
- Ferbane, Co. Offaly
- Teacher: Sr. Patrick
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0813, Page 426
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- XML “Bird-Lore”
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- The birds usually found in this district are the robin, wren, blackbird, thrush, starling, swallow, lark, wagtail, crow and the cuckoo.
The swallow and the cuckoo are migratory birds. Towards the end of September or the beginning of October the swallows are always noticed collecting in flocks on the house-tops. They fly southward in large flocks to warmer countries to the south of France or North Africa. They return again to Ireland in April. The cuckoo leaves Ireland for a warmer country in July. There is an old rhyme connected with the cuckoo :-
The cuckoo comes in April,
She sings her song in May,
In the middle of June she whistles her tune,
And in July she flies far away.
The robin is a small brown bird with a red breast. When Our Lord was hanging on the Cross the robin touched his bleeding side, and that is why it has a red breast. The robin builds(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Margaret M. Keena
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Creggan, Co. Offaly
