PERTINACITY!

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 6, 18 October 1940, Page 4

PERTINACITY!

A SPARROW BUILDS A NEST. TWENTY-SEVEN DAYS’ WORK. “Yea, the sparrow hath found an house an'd the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young,” quoth the Psalmist. In the “Guardian” office it was proved once again to-day that there is, literally, nothing new under the sun. For 27 days a sparrow, with remarkable determination, has endeavoured to construct itself a nest on a huge rafter in the paper store. Morning after morning members of the mechanical staff have found a pile of rubbish on a reel of paper, on which it had fallen as tho bird struggled to affix the pieces in place above. And morning after morning it has been cleared away for tho reason that the odds and ends are likely to attract rats. After the 27 days it was discovered to-day that the bird had at last become disheartened and discontinued its efforts to construct a house amidst the whirr of machinery and all the hustle and hustle that goes to the turning outof a modern newspaper. Materials used by the sparrow have been many and varied. Paper tags, pieces of newsprint, binder-twine, rope, leaves, straw, twigs and small pieces of engineer’s waste were finally gathered up and. they filled a sugar bag. The bird was able to get in and out through a hole ymder the eaves of the store but the patience displayed in nightly gathering up the odds and eqds of building material is all the more remarkable as a fresh start had to be made every 24 hours.