44 



Bird Notes and News 



Protection aims. While the consciousness of 

 a Watcher's presence has a wholesome effect 

 on possible raiders, so the knowledge of this 

 care for wild birds raises the status of birds 

 in the minds of many persons, and engenders 

 a new thought on the matter and a new 

 interest. One of the Watchers tells a pretty- 

 anecdote of one of his visitors : "I took a 



young lady on . . . Rock about a 

 fortnight ago, and she was delighted with 

 the young Sea-gulls. She took several up 

 in her hand and kissed them." It may be 

 at least surmised that this young lady will 

 not deck her hat with bodies or wings of 

 murdered Gulls or with the " osprey " 

 plumes that tell of starving baby-Egrets. 



Amount paid to Watchers, 1916, £189 175. 6d!. ; amount received, subscriptions to Watchers' 

 Fund, Jan. 1 to Oct. 1, 1916, £86 8s. 6d. ; deficit on this year's expenditure, £103 95. Od. 



Birds in the War Area. 



ON THE WESTERN FRONT. 

 The majority of communications which 

 come from the War Area continue to lay 

 stress on the indifference with which Birds 

 appear to regard the hideous fury and 

 destruction of war. Mr. H. Thoburn Clarke, 

 writing in Country Life (Oct. 7th, 1916), teUs 

 especially of the insouciance of the Swallows, 

 twittering and circling in and among ruined 

 houses and bams and building in the cornices 

 of what once were dainty drawing-rooms. 



" The SwaUows built several nests on 

 the rafter of a big outhouse which we used 

 as a harness-room. The nests were only 

 just above our heads, but the Swallows 

 slipped behind the rafters and constructed 

 their nests and laid their eggs quite unheeding 

 our presence. 



" Once the Germans shelled our i)osition 

 for an hour and a half. We retreated to 

 some cellars which had been sandbagged 

 and waited there until the bombardment 

 stopped. The place was struck several 

 times, and one shell dropped into the cellars, 

 but failed to explode and did no damage 

 to anyone. When the " strafing " was all 

 over we found that one shot had taken off 

 the greater part of the stable roof, the 

 second had hit the end of the outhouse and 

 demohshed part of the wall. The SwaUows 

 apparently did not care, for they were not 

 in the least perturbed by the noise of the 

 shelling, and continued feeding their young 

 ones as if nothing had happened. Before 



the day was over they were using the shell 

 hole as a convenient entrance through which 

 to pass backwards and forwards with food 

 for their young. 



" At one of our stoppmg-places a pair of 

 Swallows calmly appropriated the rack on 

 which we hung our jackets. Needless to 

 say, we resigned the rack to them and hung 

 our uniforms upon a hastily improvised 

 rack consisting of a board with some large 

 nails driven into it. Unfortunately we 

 were ordered off on our travels before the 

 nest was completed, and never knew how 

 the birds fared in their home-making." 



Mr. Thoburn Clarke refers to the vast 

 quantities of insects swarming on the 

 battlefield ; and this is a matter which 

 has already impressed both ornithologists 

 and agriculturists with the desperate need 

 France will have for her insectivorous birds 

 after the war. It may fairly be assumed 

 that no more hecatombs of SwaUows will 

 be permitted in the Camargue, to fiU the 

 pockets of the feather-traders at the expense 

 of the food of the people. 



EquaUy invaluable with the insect-eaters 

 are the Owls and Kestrels. To these 

 aUusion is made in a paper on " Birds on 

 the Western Front," contributed to the 

 Weekly Westminster (Oct. 14th, 1916), by 

 " Saki " (the late Lance-Sergeant Hector 

 Monro). 



