Birds nest

Wool, as a keratin, is a highly cross-linked, insoluble proteinaceous fiber, and few animals have developed the specialized digestive systems that aUow them to derive nutrition from the potential protein resource. In nature, these few keratin-digesting animals, principally the larvae of clothes moths and carpet beetles, perform a useful function in scavenging the keratinous parts of dead animals and animal debris (fur, skin, beak, claw, feathers) that ate inaccessible to other animals. It is only when these keratin-digesting animals attack processed wool goods that they are classified as pests. Very often they enter domestic or industrial huildings from natural habitats such as birds nests. 

Vespa crabro, the European hornet, and V. orientalis are the most important species of the genus Vespa in Europe, Asia and Africa, and V. crabro has also been imported in the USA. These species are much larger than other vespids (fig. 2e). They build their nest mostly above ground, in hollow tree trimks or in birds nest boxes. Stings occur almost exclusively near the nests. 

Ankley, G.T., G.J. Niemi, K.B. Lodge, HJ. Harris, D.L. Beaver, D.E. Tillitt, R.R. Schwartz, J.P. Giesy, P.D. Jones, and C. Hagley. 1993. Uptake of planar polychlorinated biphenyls and 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzofurans and dihenxo-p-dioxins by birds nesting in the lower Fox River and Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 24 332-344. 

Aquatic birds nesting at Kesterson Reservoir in 1983 were found to have high rates of embryo deformities and mortality. Beginning in 1984, adult birds were also found dead in unusually high numbers. Through a series of field and laboratory studies, these effects were attributed to the exceptionally high concentrations of selenium in the biogeochemical food web of the birds. 

Birds that breed in cavities and reuse their nest sites often incorporate green parts of aromatic plants into their nests. Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, prefer certain species of plants to others. House sparrows. Passer domesticus, incorporate neem (margosa) tree, Azadirachta indica, leaves into their nests. Extracts from neem leaves repel arthropods and inhibit oviposition (Sengupta, 1981). The aromatic plants are thought to fulfill an important function by keeping down populations of microbes in the birds nests (Mason and Clark, 1986). 

Peridiole Any of the lenticular bodies containing the spores situated within the peridium in the "bird nest fungus. 

The most common cause of accidental poisoning with carbon monoxide is a fire, stove, or boiler that is inadequately ventilated. When it is lit, it produces the toxic gas which accumulates in the house, especially in modern homes which are often double-glazed and have little ventilation, and especially in the winter. One reason for poor ventilation may be birds nesting in the chimney, which decreases the availability of air. In a recent case a family lit a fire in a rented holiday cottage, but unbeknown to them the chimney had become blocked with a bird s nest, and all of them died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Zev (Ze ev) Hassid was born in Jaffa, Palestine, probably on October 1st, 1899, although he seemed uncertain about the date of his birth and sometimes gave the year as 1897 or 1901. The name William was added after he came to the United States. His parents, Mor-decai and Esperanza Hassid (Chassid) were born in Poland, but were Russian citizens at the time of his birth. His father was a lumber merchant who took lumber from Russia to Palestine. When Zev was 4 years old, the family moved from Palestine to a farm in the vicinity of Kremenetz in the Russian Ukraine, and his childhood was spent in this rural environment. He often wandered in the adjacent woods and fields, hunted for birds nests, and associated with shepherds, so much so that his father scolded him and said that if he did not spend more time on his studies he would qualify for nothing more than a herdsman. 

For the ultimate escape — and a true taste of the Old Caribbean — head to Vieques and Culebra, two small islands off the Puerto Rican mainland. Reachable by ferry from Fajardo,Vieques is rural and uncrowded. OnVieques, you can stroll any of 53 beaches, relax in new hotels and take a night tour of a bioluminescent bay Culebra, reachable by small plane or ferry is known for its wildlife reserve, home to 120 marine-bird nesting colonies and an abundance of other wddhfe. Visitors to the area are only allowed on two smaller islands, Cayo Luis Pena and Culebrita, and must leave by dusk. 

It takes about twenty minutes to reach by fishing boat from Aultbea. As you draw closer it s possible to make out the shapes of hundreds of sea birds nesting on its craggy shore-line. Their calls are the only sounds which break the silence. Once upon a time the island is said to have supported eleven families. Today, the only sign of human habitation is the ruin of a crofter s cottage. 

What can seem confusing is the fact that with other words ending in s we often use an apostrophe to indicate possession (bird s nest). The apostrophe in this case is being used instead of saying the nest of the bird it is a kind of shorthand. The apostrophe placed before the final s is the singular possessive form (bird s nest) and the apostrophe placed after the s is the plural possessive form (birds nests). 

---