108 



Bird Notes and News 



Juhj 19, 1917. 



" Since I last wrote you our squadron 

 has moved, and we are in a more desolate 

 spot, but, notwithstanding, there are plenty 

 of birds about. A Kestrel can be seen 

 almost any day hovering outside our work- 

 rooms, and a few nights ago I had a very 

 good view of two Little Owls which were 

 capturing mice quite near me. We also had 

 a nest of White Owls near by, and the young 

 were successfull}^ reared ; they were in a hole 

 in a pollard willow. Larks are still singing, 

 and a few evenings ago 1 heard a Garden 

 Warbler in full song : this was in a tall hedge 

 around a German cemetery. Yellowhammers, 

 too, are still singing. Near a small pond I 

 heard a strange song, evidently a ¥,''arbler, 

 but 1 could not see the bird, and did not have 

 time to wait. One of our men saw a large 

 bird out on the moor, and from his description 

 I should imagine it was one of the Harriers. 



" There is still a wealth of wild flowers 

 about. Some of the fields hereabouts, which 

 a few months ago \^'ere the scenes of desperate 

 battles and were running red with the blood 

 of brave men, are now a mass of scarlet 

 poppies ; in other places thistles cover the 

 ground, but everywhere there is a mass of 

 white clover. It is strange how the poppies 

 have spread everywhere ^ they are on tJie 

 ruins of the smashed villages even, and a few 

 evenings ago I saw a fine show of them on 

 a small A\all which had escaped a little of the 

 general destruction. It is a terrible and 

 almost heartbreaking sight to look upon these 

 once beautiful villages, with their farms, 

 pretty red-tiled cottages, and little churches, 

 smashed to a heap of broken rubble. You 

 can have no idea of what this destruction 

 is unless you look upon it. Here and there 

 you come across little things which remind 

 you of the once happy days ; perhaps it is 

 the broken toy of a little child, or a wrecked 

 pram, bits of biokcn pottery, a smashed 

 piano, but one and all are battered almost 

 beyond recognition. There is one strange 

 thing that 1 have noticed, and it is a tiling 

 that might make some men think long and 

 deeply. Let me mention a few instances. 



" In a small village which 1 have seen, 

 the whole place, from the chateau to the 

 humblest dwelling, is battered to a mass of 



brickdust, yet the crucifix — a half-sized 

 image of Christ on the Cross, is standing 

 intact ! There is not a mark on the image, 

 and the cross itself has just a scratch on it 

 caused by a piece of shrapnel. In a large 

 cathedral which I visited there was a large 

 stone image of the Virgin Mary ; although 

 great shells had burst all around, and the 

 surrounding walls were peppered with pieces 

 of shell, this was not damaged in any way. 

 In the same cathedral there was a small 

 wooden image, about 18 inches long, of the 

 Child Christ, lying on a heap of smashed 

 masoniy 20 feet high ; this image had been 

 blo-s^Ti half across the cathedral, not once 

 but many times, and had been exposed to 

 the explosion of hundreds of the largest 

 shells, yet it was practically undamaged. 

 But, strangest thing of all, when w^e saw it 

 there was lying by the side of it-- almost 

 touching it— a large German shell, and this 

 had failed to explode. Just one more 

 instance. There is a certain village which 

 was held by the Huns, and we shelled it. 

 When I say that, I mean it was done properly, 

 in the real British wa}". The whole place 

 was churned up, the village was buried under 

 a mass of earth and stones, it was turned 

 over and re-turned until it looked like a 

 jumbled mass of earth shaken up by a 

 hundred earthquakes ; and yet through aU 

 this the village crucifix stood intact ! Can 

 you explain it ? Can anyone ? There are 

 dozens of other instances, and I thouglit my 

 little experience might interest you. 



" On the top of the battered walls of a great 

 cathedi-al 1 saw a pair of Kestrels had made 

 their nest, and I could hear the j^oung calling 

 and saw the parents bringing food to them. 

 The same walls were occupied by numbers 

 of Jackdaws and Swifts. It is strange how 

 the birds are (juite unconcerned by gunfire ; 

 the}^ seem to stick to their old haunts, 

 and it takes a tremendous lot to dislodge 

 them. I have known the Nightingale to 

 sing continuous!}' through a night of bombard- 

 ment ; guns were in the wood, and shells 

 were bursting there and machine-gun bullets 

 were wfastling through, but the Nightingale 

 stuck it, and continued his battle-song. 

 I })ave stood by a Whitethroat's nest, with 

 the largest Hun shells bursting near, and the 

 very air seemed to be filled with a terrii^ang, 

 tearing crash, followed by a long, echoing 



