From: giraffe@longneck.inc (giraffe~⇔)
Newsgroups: alt.binaries.pictures.artpics
Subject: Re: Critters - KitchenBert_AndSoTheyBuild05-iej.jpg
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2000 03:04:17 GMT

>*
>*From a educational book for children
>*And So They Build
>*Written & illustrated by Bert Kitchen
>*
>*ISBN 1-56402-502-0


KitchenBert_AndSoTheyBuild05-iej

Swallows are ready to breed
and so they build...

Swallows fly almost everywhere in the world apart
from the Arctic and Antarctic, though they winter
exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. They
normally build their nests on a sheltered ledge
or beam - perhaps inside a barn. They begin by
plastering mud from a nearby pond or stream onto
the wall above the ledge, then build up their nest
in semicircular layers of mudballs, adding grass
and straw for extra strength.

It may take as many as a thousand mouthfuls of
mud, carried back one by one, to build a nest.

Swallows often return to the same place each year,
repairing their nests with fresh mud and straw.