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Bird Notes and News 



of The Times, writing from hospital of his 

 experiences at Neuve Chapelle, says : — 



" On Wednesday, March 10, we were told 

 to ' stand to ' earlier than usual. Our 

 aeroplanes were up very early, and punctu- 

 ally at 7.30 a.m. a terrific bombardment of 

 our artillery commenced. It is impossible 

 to explain what the noise was really like ; 

 the sensation was awful. The Germans 

 immediately set up a violent rifle and maxim- 

 gun fire, so that we couldn't see the effect of 

 our shelling very well. The bombardment 

 lasted well on to mid-day ; it wasn't quite 

 so violent during the final stages. I have 

 always relished the singing of a lark high 

 in the air on a fine summer day, but it 

 seemed a perfect heaven when during a 

 slight pause in the shelling a lark could be 

 heard singing merrily away, about 50 yards 

 high." — Times. 



Birds in the Wood. 



Pte. C. T. Burgess, Honourable Artillery 

 Company, writing to his father, Alderman 

 C. Burgess, senior member of the Godalming 

 Town Council, says : — 



" Just by the trenches we are occupying 

 there is a wood, and although it is fairly 

 riddled with shot and shell both day and 

 night, you would be surprised how full of life 

 it is. There are two or three nightingales, 

 which sing most rippingly, at least one 

 pheasant, one green woodpecker, one stoat, 

 and also a tree-creeper, and, of course, the 

 usual thrushes and blackbirds. Don't you 

 think it rather strange that they should 

 choose a place like that, as the noise from 

 the shells that burst there is terrific, but 

 it is very comforting to hear some of the 

 old familiar woodland noises again." — Daily 

 Chronicle. 



Mr. J. McKnight, of Worksop, attached 

 to the Canadian Highlanders, writes, in a 

 vivid description of an engagement : — 



" As morning was dawning, the Colonel 

 thinking our position not a secure one, 

 led us back to the trench we had captured. 

 We commenced to make ourselves more 

 secure by digging deeper and building the 

 parapet in front. It was now almost dawn. 

 As the morning broke through the darkness 

 of the night, the birds in the wood beyond 

 broke forth into song. Everything was 



quiet, the men seemed to stop their digging 

 and listened to the song of the Almighty's 

 songsters. I stood up in the trench and 

 looked across the battlefield of the night 

 before. What a sight ! Highlanders and 

 Germans were lying all around, having paid 

 the price of war. As I listened to that 

 glorious song ; looked at the tranquil scene 

 in front ; thought of the awful carnage of 

 the night before ; and as I looked around 

 for familiar faces that I could not find, I 

 thought, what an antithesis — on the one 

 side peace and tranquillity, on the other 

 war, bloodshed, and death." — Worksop 

 Guardian. 



The Indifference of Birds. 



Writing on " Birds in the War-area," 

 in the Outlook (April 24th), Canon 

 Vaughan quotes two or three stories 

 which seem to indicate that the constant 

 sound of heavy firing is no more to birds 

 than the rumbling of trains is to the 

 pigeons and sparrows that nest among 

 the girders of railway stations : — 



"An officer, who for three months was in 

 the trenches on the outskirts of the Forest 

 of Sablon, tells us that there the game 

 seemed entirely unaffected by the constant 

 and heavy artillery fire. Indeed, one ex- 

 posed spot seemed to be the favourite 

 promenade for cock pheasants. It was, 

 he says, " A good-sized orchard directly 

 between our lines and the enemy, and 

 frequently swept by both rifle and artillery 

 fire, yet I think never a day passed but that I 

 saw at least one or two fine birds strolling 

 about quite unconcernedly, and on many 

 occasions I have seen several. Hares and 

 partridges were also very abundant, and 

 apparently war had no terrors for them." 

 Another observer of birds writes home from 

 the Front : " We have a favourite blackbird, 

 who sits up in the tree above us, and answers 

 when the men whistle to him, no matter 

 how heavy the firing may be. I was amused, ' ' 

 he adds, " to watch two old magpies the 

 other day. They wanted to cross over 

 from this side to the German lines, but every 

 time they started to leave a row of poplars 

 just below my shelter, there would be a 

 crack from some rifle and back they would 



