THE BIRD’S NEST

Southland Times, Issue 23989, 2 December 1939, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BIRD’S NEST

' —PRIZE— One sunny day in spring, I was sitting in the garden reading, when suddenly I heard excited twitterings coming from the hawthorn hedge. Wondering what was the matter, I went to have a look, and there I saw a pair of thrushes busy building a nest. Although I could not see the nest because the hedge was too thick, I knew they were building one because I saw them flying backwards and forwards with bits of straw and twigs. A week later I came back to see if the nest was finished. By parting the leaves I was able to see the nest, but it was too high for me to look into it. It was round and smooth, and shaped like a bowl. A few weeks after that I went to have a peep to see if the mother thrush had laid any eggs yet. I found a box, climbed on to it, parted tire leaves again, and had a look. In it, there were three, pale blue speckled eggs. After about two weeks I went to see if the eggs had hatched. I stood on the box and had a peep in and there I saw three tiny baby thrushes. They were very ugly at first because they did not have any feathers, but it was very interesting to watch the father thrush bringing home tasty morsels for the hungry little birds. As soon as the baby thrushes were old enough they were taught to fly, and it was great fun to watch them, but soon after, the nest was deserted by all the thrushes. —Prize of 1/- to .Cousin Audrey Smith (10), 666 George street, Dunedin. —PRIZE— I have been watching a blackbird’s nest in a shrub in our paddock. When I first found it there were two eggs in it; they were greenish blue splashed with brown, and a few days later there were two more eggs. While mother bird sat on the eggs, father bird was very busy in our garden collecting worms. In a fortnight there were three tiny birds, the fourth egg did not hatch out. There seemed to be nothing else but three big open mouths in the nest 'every time I looked at it, and father and mother were both busy collecting worms to feed their babies. I would sometimes take them some worms, and what a noise they made as they opened their big mouths. Their feathers grew very quickly and in a short time they were able to fly. When they left the nest I took it out of the shrub to see how it was made. It was not a neat tidy nest like some are, but was roughly made of sticks, straws of grass, stalks of bid-a-bid and sorrel. The outside was plastered together with mud and the lining of the nest was grass roots. There was even a coarse piece of string used in the nest. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Ellen Willa (10), Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island. —PRIZE— Spring-time is nesting time, the birds are mating, and looking around for a suitable place to build their nests. Sparrows, thrushes, finches and starlings are the common birds that are seen at nesting time. I have noticed that no two birds build the same type of nest, sparrows and starlings prefer to build in under the roof if they can find a hole to get in and build. Thrushes and finches prefer a tree or hedge. I watch the birds collecting the material for their nests, one piece at a time, and then see the nest when, it is finished. Then we have our canaries and budgies. The budgies are easily satisfied. Give them an empty coco-nut husk and they will clean it out in no time and lay their eggs in the bare husk. Canaries are funny to watch building their nest. When you put the nest pan and nesting material in, the hen bird will pull the nest to pieces two or three times before she is satisfied with it. Then comes the laying, hatching and rearing, but that will have to be another story. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Colin Gibson, V.A.C. (10), 60 Robertson street.

—VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED— Susan Spring had arrived in all her glory, and Mr Sun began to shine his brightest, while the days became longer and warmer. The birds were singing as if their little throats would burst, so happy they were. “Come, let us build our nests,” they seemed to say, and as they worked, they sang, and sang. I was especially interested in watching mother and father sparrow, who were building their nest in a secluded spot, under the eaves of a garage. These two busy birds would fly to and fro from their chosen spot, hundreds of times a day, each time carrying in their beaks a little twig, leaf, or

feather, with which to build their nest. I was amazed at their patience and skill, for when the nest was finished, it was the essence of neatness and cosiness.

Later on when I peeped again into the nest, I found four tiny eggs. How proud Mrs Sparrow was as she sat on the eggs, to keep them warm, and Mr Sparrow used to take his turn, while his mate would fly away to get food. I used to get much pleasure from watching these two birds, and after some weeks, I heard such a chirping and twittering, that I again looked into the nest. I soon discovered the reason for all the noise, for in the nest were

four dear little sparrows. Their beaks were wide open waiting to receive the food which their mother and father were finding for their hungry little nestlings. The little birds grew very quickly, and by-and-by they learnt to fly. Soon they were too big for the nest, and flew away to make nests for themselves, so mother and father sparrow were once more by themselves in their cosy nest. —3 marks to Cousin Victor Jones M.A.C., M.N. (9), 71 Conon street. —VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED— One day when I was wandering in a plantation I saw a small nest just being built. It was just a piece of straw resting on two small forked branches. Two days afterwards it was beginning to take shape. It was lined with horsehair and wool neatly put in. In another day it was completed and I found that it was a chaffinch’s nest finished off with lichen from posts, all round the side. I did, not look at it for a few days, and when I did there were three eggs of a reddish colour with brown spots. —3 marks to Cousin Dorothy Mac Gibbon (10), McNab. —VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED— It was spring at last, which meant bird-nesting time. I was sitting at the dining-room window, where I could see father and mother blackbird; busily making their nest in the fork of a tree. They would fly away and arrive back with some more straw to add to the nest. Several days after I saw that the nest was covered with mud in the inside. The next time I looked there was a layer of straw on top

which afterwards hardened in with, the mud. When it was finished it looked very smooth and tidy. _ A day or two after I looked in the nest, and to my surprise I saw a green egg with brown spots on it lying in the centre of it. Before very long there were five baby blackbirds fluttering among the branches with their parents. —3 marks to Cousin Elizabeth Glover (11), Section 6, Otahuti R.D. —HIGHLY COMMENDED— One day as I was taking a walk along a shady lane I saw a hedge sparrow fly from one of the shrubs. As it was springtime I thought it might have a nest there. I began to look through the shrubs until my eye fell upon a rather neat little nest made with horse-hair and feathers. In the nest four little pale blue eggs lay. —2 marks to Cousin Isabel McEwen V.A.C. (11), 87 Morton street. —HIGHLY COMMENDED— One day I was walking to school when I saw a bird fly up from the ground. I ran to the spot, and there I saw a little lark’s nest. The nest was made from straw and dry grass. First of all the lark put four or five sticks in a criss-cross fashion on the ground in a hidden place, of course. Next she put some dry grass on top of the sticks. When this was done she shaped the nest with dry grass. Everything finished, the nest looked very cosy for the eggs. —2 marks to Cousin Dorothy Lake M.A.C. (10), Section 8, Glencoe R.D.