Selling birds’ nests

Re the letter about the sale of birds’ nests in the 18th century [ FT412:73]: Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1861) includes full details of this trade and is reprinted in a selection edited by Peter Quennell published as Mayhew’s London by Spring Books (no date). Nests might be sold just as curiosities, to be part of a display of stuffed birds or even to be hatched by birds such as canaries, and it was then a commendable hobby to make a collection of birds’ eggs. The same dealer would also sell frogs (particularly to the French!), snails (for bird food), snakes, hedgehogs, etc.

Anne Hardwick Twickenham, London