NESTING BIRDS
Sir,-Like "Sundowner" I have wondered why nesting birds work sporadically, without apparent rhyme or reason. The heap of dry grass is always there for the taking. On some days it is ignored, on others the activity and the wrestling upon it are surprising, The weather must count, of course. On a windless morning two dozen or more sparrows operated a shuttle service to the trees, with loads they could scarcely manage. The air of excitement was intense. This morning they have been carrying freshly-pulled green grass, with the roots still attached. They themselves have pulled out newlyplanted arabis, and carried it off, roots and all. Scarcely a plant is left. Similar light-leaved plants, particularly arctotis, have been pulled to pieces. Yet the fresh green of young dianthus has been left untouched. The cat in the meantime sleeps under a bush, and when the sparrows have need of refreshment they help themselves to her milk. The only thing that seems to cow the sparrows is the arrival of harsh-voited quail out of the valley. I have read that starlings will build year after year in the same small crevice in a building where the clumsy young ones have no hope of escaping, and all die. Have birds very little intelligence, or is there some point in their seemingly very haphazard activity and choice of nesting material?
PAUL HENDERSON
(Christchurch).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541112.2.9.4
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 799, 12 November 1954, Page 5
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230NESTING BIRDS New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 799, 12 November 1954, Page 5
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