80



Sivallotvs at the Front.



generally leave Westmorland punctually on August 12th or 13th.

There is something so sinister about the Swift, with his weird, ear¬

piercing cry, his everlasting swooping, whirling and hawking, that he

has never appealed to me. His very blackness seems to suit his

character of eternal restlessness, and he well deserves his North

Country name of “ devilling.” There is nothing friendly about his

nature, and as he and his companions flew over our lines I did not

regret his departure, but turned to watch seven Swallows and Martins

hurriedly catching a supper of gnats before they went to their

perches.


Living close to the heart of nature—although a torn and

battle-scarred heart—one finds that a lot of preconceived ideas about

the wild creatures have to go. Very few birds go to bed until they

are forced to by the waning light. The Swallows and Martins feed

until it is too dark to see. The Plover fly long after dark, while on

vividly moonlight nights the birds are very restless and are ahvays

waking. Gulls in particular are always moving, so are many kinds

-of wildfowl.


The idea that gun-fire would chase away the birds has been

quite exploded, and the pathetic story of the Swallows and Martins

wheeling around the ruins of their last year’s home, tweeting miser¬

ably and then departing from the battle area of ruined towns and

villages is quite untrue. Personally, I think the Swallows and

Martins prefer the ruins. The vast quantity of insects which the

life on the battlefield encourages provides them with plenty of food

and accounts for the fact that Swallows and Martins are far more

plentiful than they were during pre-war days.


Many districts in England are said to have fewer Swallows

and Martins this year than ever before,* so probably the home-coming

birds, finding a good supply of food on the front, lingered somewhere

in France and Belgium instead of continuing their journey across the

Channel. During one of the battles on the Somme the Germans

shelled a small wood. One shell struck the trunk of a tree in which

a large number of Martins and Swallows were perching. The

tree slowly bowed, and the birds went up with the cloud of smoke as


* [This was not the case at Brinsop (Herefordshire), where the House-Martins had

increased.—E d.]



