Easter 2007 — Eggs & Birds

The sparrow is a familiar bird, though few people seem to acknowledge its beauty. Looked at closely the brown, grey and white feathers of this urban bird are very striking. Sadly, these familiar birds are now struggling to survive in the UK along with many other once common birds. They are declining in both gardens and the wider countryside. Between 1977 and 2000, house sparrow numbers in the UK declined by 65%.

All of the pictures of eggs in this calendar are taken from a nineteenth century book, Nests & Eggs of Familiar Birds, by H.G. Adams. It’s the kind of book that both delighted in birds and the same time inadvertently encouraged people to contribute to species decline by taking eggs.

Despite giving instructions on how to raid nests and collect eggs Mr Adams begins his book with a story ‘to which our young readers are earnestly requested to pay special attention’. The story concerns a young boy who has watched sparrows carrying nesting material under the eaves of a cottage. The boy then raids the nest, carrying it off. When he looks closely, though, he finds that the sparrows had made their nest partly out of pages torn from a discarded hymn book. One of the fragments of paper turns out to contain pious verses written by Isaac Watts:

Why should I deprive my neighbour
Of his goods against his will?

Hands were made for honest labour;
Not to plunder or to steal.

The young boy is suitably struck by guilt!