Utility and Economy of Birds 
Hundreds of ‘‘ enemy’? CANARIES were 
killed by our shell and gas but those that 
were rescued by our troops were, needless 
to say, well cared for. A demonstration 
of their utility was given to the members 
of the Congress of South-Eastern Scientific 
Societies on June Ist, 1918, when a bird 
in a cage was introduced into a chamber 
full of poison-gas and became unconscious 
before a human being, exposed to the same 
conditions, showed any sign of being affected 
(Sunday Herald, 2.vi.18). This war-time 
use of CANARIES may have been one of 
the reasons which caused a CANARY boom 
in America, where these birds are very 
popular. Although double the pre-war price 
would willingly have been paid, the birds 
were unprocurable; German-bred birds being 
out of the market, and the majority of 
the Norwich fanciers having joined the 
colours, the demand proved far greater than 
the supply (Daily Mazl, 8.v.16). 
It is horribletothink of CANARIES being stifled 
by poison-gas, and the following verses ‘‘ To 
a CANARY in a Trench”’ may here be quoted: 
24, 
