Building Material
One of the common sights in my garden of late has been a hen chaffinch busily picking up the hairs left by a Tan el at a favourite sleeping and rolling place. The bird always selects the white hairs in preference to the brown and carrie; off a surprising number at each journey. We might all perhaps get amusement and do the birds a service by .supplying nesting material. Feathers and hair arc perhaps the most popular. The owner of one alleged sanctuary has been graciously pre- sented with a supply of human hair and it will doubtless prove popular. Swallows when building is at its busiest can be per- suaded to accept feathers thrown into the air for capture, and very pretty it is to see them accept the booty. The inside of the nest is as soft as the outside is hard. There is good reason to believe that the number of times a bird will breed in the year may depend in some measure on the ease of finding building material. The only time that I have known a swallow to bring up four clutches, the old nest was deliberately repaired by human hands, and the birds accepted the help with alacrity.
Previous page
