Birds on the Western Front 
to the uproar of the fighting-line, because 
they quickly realised that the destruction 
was not loosed upon themselves (Daily Maul, 
II.vi.17). Indeed, one ornithologist was of 
opinion that birds preferred the noise of battle 
to the treacherous quiet of peace, when the 
inhabitants of the countryside have plenty 
of time to hunt and otherwise annoy them. 
M. Reboussin has recorded the numbers of 
birds seen and heard to the north-west of 
Verdun, notwithstanding the constant artil- 
lery duels going on day and night (Revue 
Francaise d’ Ornithologie, November 1916, pp. 
81-92); and Dr. Arthur Allan, of Cornell 
University, speaking at a meeting of the 
American Ornithologists’ Union at Phila- 
delphia in 1916, stated that: ‘“‘A doctor, 
attached to an ambulance corps in France, 
had counted thirty-five species of birds that 
had built nests in ruins of buildings and 
trenches abandoned by inhabitants and troops. 
Artillery fire, which had swept away entire 
sections of woods, failed to disturb the birds 
which happened to be building there, and 
numbers were seen actually building nests 
107 
