Correspondence.



239



of putting in smaller packages. Hence the Queensland price for

this article is 34s. to 36s. per cwt., or nearly double the normal

value that was current here before the war.



CORRESPONDENCE.



BIRD LIFE ON THE BATTLEFIELDS.


To the Editor of the Avicultural Magazine.


It may interest you to hear that last week I walked over part of the ground

of the battlefield of the past few days, and was staggered to see quite a number of

partridges running about between the shell craters (I must have seen at least thirty

or forty within a few hours), larks singing, magpies all over the place, and a hare

lopping along as if nothing were happening, with big guns roaring all round and

from every side ! One would have expected that the intense bombardment and the

tens of thousands of troops who had fought over the ground only a few hours before

would have driven away every form of animal life : the birds, of course, could fly

back again if disturbed, but how did the hare get there ? I also saw the first swallow

flying over a pond near the battlefield on the 13th of April. What awful weather we

are having, but our men are doing splendidly in spite of it. With kind regards.


Yours very sincerely,


Albert Pam.


c/o A.D.In. H.Q. 3rd Army B.E.F.



Dear Sir, —Mr. Trevor-Battye’s article on Water Rails must have given great

pleasure to many readers.


May I, at the risk of being deemed tiresome, again refer to my old question

as to why some members of the Society do not get a pair or two of Water Rails and

turn them down in a suitable enclosure for nesting? Much of intense interest

could then be learned, both as to the calling and also as to the nesting habits of

the bird. The experiment would only necessitate a little energetic and combined

action by a few members interested in such birds, and I feel sure it would succeed

sooner or later. Nearly allied Rails do well and breed in captivity, and my expe¬

rience of Water Rails (and I have had several) is that they are quite easy to keep

and very adaptable.


It is interesting to note that in Iceland the Water Rail is known as Keldu-

Svin (Swamp-Swine) from its cry. I have been informed by an Icelandic farmer

that it creeps into outhouses about the farms in winter. How it gets food is a

mystery.


In suggesting that efforts should be made to get Water Rails to breed in

captivity I am not writing selfishly. My own birds of many kinds have almost all

gone since the war commenced, including one Blue Bird, which has flown to



