File:Baby birds at home (1912) (14751159092).jpg

Identifier: babybirdsathomebb00kear (find matches)
Title: Baby birds at home
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Kearton, Richard, 1862-1928
Subjects: Birds -- Behavior Birds -- Juvenile literature
Publisher: London, New York (etc.) Cassell and company, ltd.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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athers that cover the ear. 119 120 Baby Birds at Home Throughout the greater part of the yearthe Black-headed Gull feeds upon worms,slugs, and grubs picked up in ploughed fieldsand pastures. As a rule, it nests in colonies, butoccasionally a solitary pair may be foundbreeding on the edge of some moorland tarn.Swamps and bogs near to inland lakes, alsosmall islands in bodies of fresh water, are itsfavourite breeding haunts : but at Raven-glass, in Cumberland, a vast number of Black-headed Gulls rear their young year by yearon sandhills near the sea. A curious factin regard to this matter is that the birds atRavenglass all appear to fly inland in searchof food for their offspring. The nest is made of sedges, rushes, reeds,and dead grass, and the eg^s, generallynumbering two or three, are pale olive brownto light umber brown in colour, spotted andstreaked with blackish brown and dark grey. The young ones are clothed in down andbegin to run about and swim soon after theyhave been hatched.
Text Appearing After Image:
The Swallow THIS familiar bird is frequently referredto as the Barn or Chimney Swallow,on account of its habit of building insidebarns and the chimneys of old houses. Youwill have no difficulty in distinguishing itfrom either the swift, house martin, or sandmartin if you remember that it has a muchlonger tail than any of these birds, and thatit is divided in the middle, like the prongsof a fork. The Swallow is a migratory bird, arrivingfrom its winter abode in Africa, towards theend of March or beginning of April, if theweather should be mild and sunny, anddeparting again in September. It feeds upon flies which are caught uponthe wing, and if you are near enough youcan sometimes hear the snap of the birdsbill as it closes upon an insect. All bird-lovers delight in watching theSwallows graceful flight, as it circles high in Q 121 122 Baby Birds at Home air, or sweeps in long swift curves overmeadow and stream. The song is a joyous warble, utteredwhilst the bird is flashing through the

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