. The bird book. Birds. THE EAVES-SWALLOW: HOW SHE CHANGED HER STYLE OF BUILDING. When the eaves-swallow first came about the homes of men, she built a diti'erent nest from that she builds to-day. Her home had been the sides of cliffs, not so smooth and straight as the sides of a barn, and not protected b}^ any overhanging. Fig. 45. Nests of Eaves-Swallow. eaves. The roughness of the rock was an advantage to the bird, as it helped to support the nest, but the lack of cover was a disadvantage so great as to require some special provision; for if the rain beat into the swallow's nest, it would d
. The bird book. Birds. THE EAVES-SWALLOW: HOW SHE CHANGED HER STYLE OF BUILDING. When the eaves-swallow first came about the homes of men, she built a diti'erent nest from that she builds to-day. Her home had been the sides of cliffs, not so smooth and straight as the sides of a barn, and not protected b}^ any overhanging. Fig. 45. Nests of Eaves-Swallow. eaves. The roughness of the rock was an advantage to the bird, as it helped to support the nest, but the lack of cover was a disadvantage so great as to require some special provision; for if the rain beat into the swallow's nest, it would drown the little ones, or soak the nest until it fell from the cliff. The mud nest of the swallow is water-tight, and rain cannot drip through, as it might through a nest of sticks. So, in her wild state, the eaves-swallow built a covered nest of a form commonly known as the ^'bottle-nosed ; It -was like a rudely mod- elled, round-bodied, short-necked flask of mud, stuck against the cliff by the bottom end, so that the bird could enter by the mouth of the flask. The neck of the bottle was a little passage- 208. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy, 1865-1946. Boston, Heath
Size: 2445px × 1022px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1901
