Effect of Captivity and Severe Weather 
August proved abnormally wet, windy, and 
cold, but thereafter the weather was not 
extraordinary, though early in July 1918 
many parts of the country were threatened 
with drought. According to the British Rain- 
fall Organisation, however, there was, con- 
trary to the popular impression, no drought 
this summer (Observer, 14.vii.18). This may 
be so theoretically, or according to the 
arbitrary rules adopted by the organisation 
as to what constitutes a drought, but from 
all parts of the country complaints were rife 
as to the shortage of rain, and in many parish 
churches prayers for rain were offered up. 
Birds in London, as the War dragged on, 
found many of their sanctuaries invaded by 
the presence of soldiers and even desecrated 
by the erection of “‘temporary buildings,”’ 
Those of us who have had to live throughout 
the year in London must have been struck 
by the amount of bird life to be seen in the 
metropolis, From my dentist’s chair in 
Harley Street I once saw a KESTREL hover- 
ing, and was assured, when gagged and 
bound I tried to point the bird out to him, 
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