30 



Bird Notes and News 



I failed to see it and did not know the note. 

 Then a man who had been to the same place 

 described the same note to me and said that 

 it was made by five "yellow magpies." 

 Still I was mystified. He said that a 

 Frenchman had told him the name, and he 

 proceeded to look up " Pie " (which I told 

 him was the French for Magpie) in a pocket 

 dictionary. On seeing the entry " Pie 

 (omith) Magpie," he exclaimed, " That's it 

 — ^that's the name," indicating ''(ornith)." 

 Then it suddenly dawned on me — ornith — 

 oriole : and a day or. two later I was able 

 to verify my inference in person. 



As for the bird that calls at night like a 

 big frog, isn't it a frog ? This is a tremendous 

 country for frogs. But what interests me 

 most of all in his letter is failure before the 

 " TF^^ wit-it" bird. I would sell my tired 

 soul to get a sight of that bird. I have 

 pages of notes on it. My own version of 

 the cry is ' ' Whitt-wit-whitt," which is 

 pretty nearly the same as his. It runs in 

 the crops and ditches. The note is given 

 with great violence, so that you can hear it 

 a long way off. Sometimes I have thought 

 it was a sort of frog, I wish somebody 

 could throw some light upon it. 



Is the Blue-headed Wagtail an inhabitant 

 of these parts ? I thmk I have seen it, 

 but without adequate books of reference 

 cannot be sure. A peciiliarity of the place 

 I was at down till May 27th was the absence 

 of House Martins. It was a village Avith 

 plenty of nesting-sites, and Swallows were 

 plentiful. But I saw only two Martins 

 down to the day I was moved. 



Last autumn I was glad to see a few Wild 

 Geese going over. Imagine a man doing 

 his two hom-s on a G.H.Q. guard, than which 

 nothing is more tedious, and his delight at 

 the miexpected appearance of a few Wild 

 Geese close overhead ! Last autumn I saw 

 Black Redstarts at one or two places in the 

 area of the present offensive. And on 

 April 28th, I saw a Pied Flycatcher near 

 Armentieres. 



It is years since I had such a chance of 

 watching Cuckoos. A thing that has struck 

 me is that the bubbling note is not unlike 

 the first syllable of the Cuckoo note, repeated 

 very fast. In fact, it is sometimes impossible 

 to say whether the bird has said " cuckuck," 

 or has done a disyllabic bubble and stopped. 

 When the Cuckoo doubles the first syllable 



of " cuckoo," he seems to start on a higher 

 note, about t];!e same as that on which he 

 bubbles. I have heard the " cuckoo " note 

 this morning, but suppose I cannot expect 

 it to go on much longer. In fact, I scarcely 

 remember hearing it so late as July 8th. 



I am not in the firing line, but thoroughly 

 agree with Mi*. Little that the habit of noting 

 birds, etc., affords a great relaxation out 

 here. 



[The ' Wit-wit-wit " bird is the Quail, 

 whose cr}^ is generally rendered " Wet-my- 

 lips." Mr. Goodyear was probably right as to 

 the Blue-headed Wagtail.— Ed. B. N. & N.] 



The Petrograd Societj- of Naturalists has 

 appealed to all nature-lovers to report to it 

 any information thej^ may gather as to the 

 influence of militaiy operations upon the 

 life of birds and animals, and any deviations 

 from the normal conditions, numbers, or 

 routes in migration. 



According to the observations of Russian 

 naturalists, as reported by the Petrograd 

 correspondent of the Times (July 2%h), 

 dm-ing the first year of the war Jackdaws 

 and Rooks disappeared from the war area. 

 Larks no longer sang in the fields, and even 

 Sparrows grew very scarce. The Eagle, a 

 constant resident of the Carpathians, migrated 

 to the Balkans, and the wild Pigeon dis- 

 appeared also. Professor D. N. Kaigorodovo 

 mentions tliat an extraordinary movement 

 of Geese northward had recently been 

 reported to him. It is evident that these 

 birds could not settle in Mitau and ^Vhite 

 Russia owing to the military operations. 

 The same is true with regard to Duck. He 

 adds : ' ' Individual species of birds which 

 ordinarily carry out their migratory flight 

 through Poland appeared some time ago on 

 the island of Ezei. In the Tam-ide province 

 last year an abundance of everj^ kind of bird 

 was observed, particularly those species 

 which migrate through the Carpathians. 

 Birds whose nests were usualty in localities 

 affected by the war were compelled to 

 abandon their homes and migrate to other 

 places." 



The French ornithologist, M. Cunisset- 

 Carnot, states that in districts in the fighting 

 line the birds became greath' disturbed, 

 flying about and screeching night and day. 

 Among the migrants, those which dwell 



