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.