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Bird Notes and News 



Birds in the War Area. 



The following notes on bird -life in a corner 

 of France come to Bird Notes and News 

 from the Headmaster of the Leicester-road 

 Council School, Bedworth, forming part of 

 a letter to him in the early spring of 1917 

 from a soldier-teacher now in the Royal 

 Engineers. 



" The spot where I am is a splendid 

 stretch of country for nature study, but 

 unfortunately I get no time to indulge 

 in this as I should like. Nevertheless, when 

 I do get the opportunity I don't go about 

 with my eyes shut. Magpies are among 

 the most common birds in these parts and 

 are not nearly so shy as at home. Another 

 member of the crow family, but hitherto 

 unknown to me, I have often seen in the 

 coastal regions, feeding on some yellow 

 berries (like holly) of a stunted shrub (like 

 gorse) growing on the sandhills. This bird 

 is a trifle larger than the crow, with a slate 

 coloured body and black head, tail, and 

 wings. Our familiar " Wet-bird " I often 

 saw and heard in a neighbouring copse 

 previous to the hard frosts. The Owl I 

 heard at times when I first came here with 

 our advanced party, but owing to later 

 developments he seems to have deserted us. 

 The Yellow Bunting can always be seen 

 along the hedgerow and the Lark on the 

 ploughlands of the sugar-beet. 



" Our friend the Chaffinch comes to the 

 cook-house door daily for any odd scraps 

 which happen to be overlooked. I saw a 

 male bird to-day tugging away for several 

 minutes at a piece of bacon-rind that had 

 one end frozen to the ground. He worked 

 round and round it, clearing the snow as he 

 went, till he met with success. I often 

 watch the Blue Tit in his performances 

 in three young birch trees at the back of 

 my iron hut ; he also comes in for a good 

 many bits of fat. Naturally, the birds 

 and especially the smaller varieties, have 

 had a very rough time during the very 

 severe weather. This is specially the case 

 with the Robin, who seems to have become 

 so weakened by the cold that he scarcely 

 moves out of your way along the roadside, 

 and in more than one instance has been 

 picked up — let us hope by a friend. The 

 birds which do visit our unnatural habitation 



are, I am happy to say, bound to get a 

 regular good feed off the morsels of food 

 which chance to be dropped. 



" The other evening, when returning 

 (" home " I was going to say) at dusk 

 past a large stretch of flooded land then 

 covered thick with ice — except where a 

 fresh water spring emptied itself, and which 

 therefore was at this part not frozen— I 

 noticed large flocks of Wild Duck settling 

 down for the night among the reeds. It 

 was a grand sight to see them and watch 

 their numbers steadily increasing by flights 

 of ten or a dozen coming over from afar 

 and at a great height in angular formation, 

 and dropping down in spiral formation to 

 join their kith and kin. Then, now and 

 again, with any slight disturbance, they 

 would take to wing in large bodies and 

 travel low across the ice-bound haunt to 

 the far side. On approaching I espied a 

 pair of Herons quite near the other wild 

 fowl, but distinctly separated from them. 

 Fine specimens they were, too. Starlings 

 are regular visitors to the dumps of sugar- 

 beet waste from manufacture to be found 

 in the corners of the fields (fields without 

 our familiar hedgerows) and used, I under- 

 stand, for manuring the land." 



On the Balkan Marshes. 



The birds of the eastern front have been 

 written of less than have those of the west ; 

 partly perhaps because they are less familiar 

 to the British soldier. This interesting 

 account of some of them appeared in the 

 Balkan News, and was sent by a soldier 

 serving in Salonika to Mr. Vicars Webb : 



" What a paradise for the student of 

 natural history is this apparently so desolate 

 expanse of plain and mountain, but especially 

 for the observer of birds ! Every change 

 in the wind brings us the trumpeting of 

 vast hordes of Grey Lag-Geese echeloning 

 in flight against the morning sky. The 

 variety of wild fowl approaches the teeming 

 swarms of the Danube marshes, and but 

 for the ceaseless depredations of the numerous 

 Eagles, Buzzards, Falcons, and HarrierS; 

 observation would yield even better results. 



Mallard, Widgeon (slightly larger and 

 darker than the British species), Goldeneye, 



