Birds seen in Flanders.



197



BIRDS SEEN IN FLANDERS.


By Captain P. Gosse, R.A.M.C., M.B.O.U.


I have read with interest Lt.-Col. Tweedie’s account of the

birds seen by him in Flanders this last autumn and winter and

venture to add to his list those seen by myself. It will be enough

perhaps to say that my observations were made in the neighbourhood

of Armentieres near the French-Belgian frontier, and extend from

the trenches back to about five miles behind the firing line.


My chief occupation “ out of hours,” though, was the trapping

and preserving of small mammals, and I was fortunate enough to

catch specimens of all the native small mammals, except the

“ Spanish dormouse,” which is evidently the animal which Col.

Tweedie found in the thatch.


I must say I was surprised at the number of birds to be

seen and the number of species ; as, apart from the daily gun-fire,

the country is not one in which you would expect many birds,

it being flat, much inhabited, and no woods or coppices.


In the trenches themselves there are huge flocks of sparrows,

of which a good number are tree sparrows (P. montanus). I think

these flocks are due to the crops of standing corn that were left

uncut. There were several fine coveys of “ common ” partridges

(Perdix cinerea), and, like Col. Tweedie, I have not seen any

“French” partridges ( Gaccabis rufa). Jays lived among some

trees by a mined farm, between our trenches and the Bodies’, as

did also magpies. I saw one day a pair of harriers quartering

“ no man’s land,” but cannot say if they were hen harriers or not.

I could only see them with difficulty from where I was in a trench.

A goldfinch was seen near one of the communication trenches.


Larks abound everywhere, — nearly all, the crested lark

(Alauda cristatus). Unlike Col. Tweedie I have scarcely seen any

skylarks ( Alauda arvensis).


Hooded crows became very common with the first spell of

cold weather and large flocks of redwings appeared at the same time.


The little owl ( Athene noctua ) is common, both in the

trenches and behind, and no doubt has a good time amongst the



