There are a lot of birds to be found through-out this country, but the most common ones are :- The thrush, Cuckoo, wren, stonechat, linnet, and many others. Some of those migrate to foreign warm countries in Winter and when they come back they are called our truant friends. The cuckoo is one of our truant friends which goes away and then comes back again, but she is the laziest bird of all, she builds no nest of her own, only lays an egg in some other little bird's nest and when the young cuckoo comes out she becomes master of this nest and so she throws out the other little birds and they die of hunger. The swallow comes from Africa in Summer, she lays her eggs and builds her nest in an old iorn shed. Her eggs are of a blueish colour. If boys go near any of those birds nests they are told they will be brought away by fairies, who are watching them, or that it is a great sin that God will punish severely for. When the curlew is flying low downMatt Smyth