12 The Oolo gists' Record, March i, 1921. 



down. This nest was some twenty-two feet high and suspended 

 some twelve feet out from the centre of a beech saphng. This 

 sapHng was too slender to climb so I solved the problem with the 

 aid of a jack knife and gently lowered nest and all quite safely. 

 Fortunately there were four fresh eggs and this was on 21st May, 

 I found the birds to be very bold and noisy when the young are 

 hatched, but at other times they keep to the high tree tops. 



Earlyin 1919 I was eligible for demobilisation, but was persuaded 

 to stay on with the Army for a few months longer. It brought me 

 the prospect of a move from the land of desolation to a part of the 

 line which had been in German occupation for four years. I 

 decided to risk it and did not regret it, for the country turned out tt> 

 be better off as regards bird life as the following notes will show. 



Great Grey Shrike, Lanius excuhitor, Linn. 



Though I have read many notes on birds seen at the front few 

 have mentioned this most interesting bird. I met with it in many 

 districts but it was nowhere very common. My first sight of it was 

 in winter in the flooded area of the Ancre, and I shall never forget 

 this bird, like a miniature Magpie, with his loping flight. I saw 

 five nests in 1919 in all stages. I had a brood near my shack near 

 Lille and had many opportunities of studying their habits. It may 

 seem strange but it is a fact that I never heard the adult birds utter 

 a note though the young are extremely noisy. I have climbed to 

 their nests containing both eggs and young, and though the old 

 birds have come back to the tree while I was at the nest, I have 

 never heard them utter a note. The nest bears a great resemblance 

 to that of the Carrion Crow, but is of course a great deal smaller. 

 It is built, so far as my experience goes, high up in any tree com- 

 manding a look-out, even in a wood. I have seen its nest built 

 from forty to, in one instance, as high as eighty feet, and needless 

 to say I did not investigate the last-named one. The eggs, resemb- 

 ling small Magpie's, are usually six in number. My first find was a 

 clutch of seven on loth May, and these were in an advanced state 

 of incubation. The nest is commenced in April, and the first week 

 in May appears to be the best time for fresh clutches. I have a 

 curious nest in my possession lined partly with stocking wool. A 

 ball or card had been carried to the nest, and the branches of the 

 tree were laced with this material, some forty or fifty yards of which 

 I recovered. 



