School: Cill Tormóir (Kiltormer) (Buachaillí)

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1. Wild Birds (continued)

   

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   makes her nest on the top of a tree. She makes it of sticks and moss and wool. In a very thick thorny bush the thrush, blackbird, magpie, make their nests. The robin selects a hole in the ditch as a place to make her nest. She makes it of moss and horsehair. When she has the nest made she moves round within in with her breast so as to make the sides smooth. The wren makes the nicest nest of all the birds. She selects an old bush as a place to live in. She gathers moss and places it in the bush. She lines it inside with hair and in the side there is a hole for her to enter. She is the smallest bird of all the bird family, but she lays the most eggs. She lays about fourteen eggs. The curlew and crane are the most careless of all the birds. They make no nest at all. The crane lays her eggs in the bank of a river and the curlew lays her eggs in the long grass of a marshy district. The birds are often of great use to the farmer, because he can judge by them what kind of weather he is to get. If he sees swallow flying low to the ground he knows that rain is near at hand. If the crow rises high in the air and "caw" loudly we can be sure of a very fine spell. About the end of Autumn if the wild-geese fly inland and form a fork-like shape it is a sign that there

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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

   Laurence Kilkenny

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Ballyturick, Co. Galway