School: Baile Uí Mheirigín, Merginstown

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1. The Birds (continued)

   

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   tom-tits, wild ducks, water hens, and skylarks. The crow lays five green eggs and builds her nest in a tall tree The crow is said to foretell the weather. If they are curling and diving in the air it is a sign of wind. The crow starts to build her nest on the 1st of March If the 1st of March falls on a Sunday the crow would not work on that day The crow is one of the farmer's greatest enemies. In the summer she pulls his potatoes and turnips to feed her young ones. Sometimes he puts a scarecrow in the field to frighten away the crows. But after a few days you would see the crows coming up to it and pulling up the potatoes.
   The blackbird generally builds her nest in a hedge. She plasters the inside of it with mud. The male bird is black and its beak is yellow. The female is brown and her beak is yellow only in spring. If anything disturbed or frightened a blackbird she would go fluttering along through the hedge chirruping loudly so as to warn the other blackbirds. The blackbirds lays about three

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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

   Joseph Perkins

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Merginstown, Co. Wicklow

   Informant

   Mr Joseph Perkins

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   74

   Address

   Mullycagh Lower, Co. Wicklow