. Aunt May's bird talks . h reddishbrown spots. The young birds soon learn tofly, and as they feel awkward at first, and haveto give all their attention to their wings, theirmother flies around them, catching gnats andflies, with which she feeds them, so that thefamily can take lunch while on the are very kind birds and often help eachother to build their nests; very different they AUNT MAYS BIRD TALKS. 99 are from the Rook, or naughty Blackbird,which will steal around and pull another birdsnest to pieces in order to find material for itsown. 11 Swallows are said to foretell rain, be
. Aunt May's bird talks . h reddishbrown spots. The young birds soon learn tofly, and as they feel awkward at first, and haveto give all their attention to their wings, theirmother flies around them, catching gnats andflies, with which she feeds them, so that thefamily can take lunch while on the are very kind birds and often help eachother to build their nests; very different they AUNT MAYS BIRD TALKS. 99 are from the Rook, or naughty Blackbird,which will steal around and pull another birdsnest to pieces in order to find material for itsown. 11 Swallows are said to foretell rain, becausethey fly low in cloudy weather; this is done inorder to catch the insects which try to hidein the grasses and weeds when they feel astorm approaching. 1 read a funny story the other day abouta pair of swallows. They built their nestunder a manswindow, and hewatched themwith a great dealof interest; themale brought damp clay in his beak, andhis mate mixed it with straw, and so theymade their nest. One day Mr. and 100 AUNT MAYS BIRD TALKS. Swallow went out for a fly in the air — aswe should go for a walk. When they cameback, who should be sitting in their nest buttwo impudent little Sparrows! The Swallowswere much excited and tried in vain to drivetheir unwelcome visitors away; the Sparrows,believing possession to be nine points of thelaw, declined to leave. After chattering toeach other a few minutes, the Swallows flewaway, and the man thought they had givenup in despair. He was much surprisedpresently to see a crowd of Swallows . com-ing from all sides, following the two whosehome had been stolen from them. EachSwallow carried mud in his bill, which theydashed one at a time against the opening ofthe nest; this they continued to do until theopening was completely covered with mud,although the Sparrows tried to fight them off AUNT MAYS BIRD TALKS. 101 all the while. Finally the Swallows succeededin plastering the nest all over with mud, andthen built another right ov
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1900