Bird Notes and News 



moved when they were shelled, nor did the 

 Reed- Warblers even raise their heads out 

 of their nest when there was firing. The 

 Icterine's nest, which I discovered after' a 

 search, was very beautiful, rather bulky, 

 deep, and roimded on the outside surface, 

 tied, I think, to a lilac bush about 5 ft. from 

 the ground ; the eggs were covered with 

 cherry-coloured spots. 



SlNGESTG AMONG THE SHELLS. 



" About this time I heard that a brood of 

 Nightingales was hatched on the day of the 

 heaviest Hooge bombardment on the lip of 

 the first-line trench. On Ma}'- 13, at 3 a.m., 

 in the garden of my chateau I heard a 

 Nightingale begin to sing. Half an hour 

 afterwards German shells were rained upon 

 the garden incessantly throughout the day. 

 The bird sang without a pause where the 

 shells fell thickest until 12 p.m. and survived, 

 for next morning he started again as cheerily 

 as ever. The Marsh- Warbler's strength of 

 song rather disappointed me. The only 

 nest I saw was shown me in meadow-sweet 

 by a marsh ditch, but the birds were common 

 enough wherever the groimd suited, and 

 were almost aggressively tame. 



The Oriole. 



" Late in June I heard that an Oriole's nest 

 had been found in an oak wood. There was 

 an oak wood, too, near my billet, and a 

 fortnight later a friend and I heard a clear 

 whistle which we agreed came from an 

 Oriole, or rather there were four Orioles 

 chasing each other round the tree tops in a 

 state of great excitement, whistling and 

 screeching. Two days after one pair, at 

 any rate, seemed to have settled down to 

 nest. I sat down to watch, and at last saw 

 the hen Oriole hopping cautiously from 

 bough to bough to a little thin oak tree 100 

 yards from me. She flew to what looked 

 like a small romid ball hanging from one of 

 the branches. I could hardly believe I had 

 found the nest so easily, but ten minutes 

 later she returned to the same place, and 

 that time I saw a blade of grass in her 

 mouth, and there was no further doubt. 

 I never saw the bird carry more than one 

 blade of grass at a time in her bill, and 

 however carefully I reached my hiding-place 

 she always approached with extreme caution 



and from exactly the opposite direction. 

 The Oriole's whistle has a very human 

 sound, rich and full, but his repertoire is 

 meagre. He starts with a splendid note, 

 which can be heard 400 yards off, but it is 

 all over after half-a-dozen bars. The call- 

 note is loud and screechy ; I can take off 

 both it and the whistle passably. Orioles 

 are amusing, active birds, full of life and 

 sound, and the oak woods of Flanders and 

 the Pas de Calais support a fair stock of 

 them. 



The Crested Lark. 



" One of the commonest birds about the 

 trenches is the Crested Lark, a tame cheeky 

 little creature who sings his pleasant trilly 

 song even in January. Round Vermelles 

 and Loos he seems to be commoner than 

 anywhere else. I like him immensely, but 

 not quite so much as his cousin the Wood- 

 Lark, whom I have not met in Northern 

 France. The two are similar in many 

 respects, especially in their flight ; both 

 will sing quietly to themselves on the ground 

 when approached by a human being ; both 

 sing in the air at a regular height ; both are 

 very fast runners, and given to the most 

 deceitful habits when nesting. On several 

 occasions I was within an ace of finding a 

 Crested Lark's nest, and success onty came 

 when I w^as ' standing to ' during the 

 second battle of Ypres. It looked more 

 like that of a Skylark than a Woodlark, and 

 was not so neat or so deep as that little 

 bird makes hers. 



" In the whiter in the Pas de Calais there 

 have been quite a number of Hen Harriers 

 and Buzzards, and I once saw a Peregrine. 

 Twice in August and once in February I 

 have seen a Great Grey Shrike, in every 

 case at the top of an open down. As for 

 ' Continental ' Titmice, Great, Blue, Marsh, 

 and Long-tail Tits are extremely common, 

 and Coal Tits, where there are fir trees, look 

 exactly the same in France as they do in 

 England, they speak exactly the same 

 language, including the same bad language. 

 A naturalist who keeps his eyes and ears 

 open will see on the Western Front practically 

 all the birds he would expect in a southern 

 English county, together with those which 

 I have mentioned, and others which may 

 have escaped me." 



