8—BIRDS ON THE WESTERN 
FRONT 
Y difficulty in collating the notes by 
| \ / eye-witnesses regarding the behavi- 
our of birds on the Western Front 
has been great, owing to the various aspects 
of bird life as seen by individual observers. 
Some of these were trustworthy ornitholo- 
gists and all were bird-lovers, but it was only 
to be expected that most of them were inter- 
ested in the species which they either saw 
for the first time or which were of compara- 
tive rarity in Great Britain. Thus, many of 
the observations refer to such species as the 
GOLDEN ORIOLE, CRESTED LARK, ICTERINE 
WARBLER, and other birds not uncommon in 
France and Flanders but rare in this country. 
Some observers write of migration as far as 
they could witness it in their prescribed 
range of observation, and many more write 
of the presence and daily habits of Rooks, 
99 
