Birds on the Western Front 
the only bird that felt thoroughly at home. 
In the fields the ordinary birds of the season 
were plentiful and unconcerned, and when 
the summer migrants arrived they returned 
to their old haunts in the half-felled orchards 
and the ruined houses and nested quite hap- 
pily ([bis, IgIg9, p. 57). In times of peace, 
birds have been known to frequent noisy 
places with marvellous persistency—for in- 
stance, it is on record that a PIED WAGTAIL 
sat on her nest, placed under a railway switch 
over which trains passed almost hourly, 
without deserting it; and, as I have already 
said, Charles Waterton was of the opinion 
that birds would get used to every sound 
except that of the gun, It is therefore re- 
markable that the outstanding feature of all 
the notes which I have collected is the 
unanimity with which all observers insist 
on the remarkable indifference displayed by 
birds to the noise of battle. 
At the beginning of the War it was ex- 
pected that the battle-fronts would be de- 
serted by all birds except those grim followers 
of war, the VULTURE, RAVEN, and HoopIE- 
IOI 
