Behaviour of Birds 
under fire. The tree in which one of the 
birds was making a nest was entirely swept 
away by a Shell, but a bird in a neighbouring 
tree went right on building’ (New York 
World, 7.xii.16). There is a story of a tree, 
in front of a dug-out, having been uprooted 
by a shell and replanted in a shell-hole; a 
little terrified, trembling, but uninjured bird 
was discovered on its nest in the replanted 
tree (Bristol Times and Mirror, 5.viii.16). 
The long-continued bombardment of Nieu- 
port seemed to an eye-witness only an induce- 
ment and an incentive to the feathered choirs 
(Manchester Guardian, 10.v.16). The fol- 
lowing is part of Mr. H. Perry Robinson’s 
description of the terrific artillery prelude of 
the British assault on the Ypres salient in 
June 1917: ‘“‘ The sun as it rose was in- 
visible behind the bank of smoke, but it 
flushed the sky above with red. It was a 
truly terrible dawn, most beautiful in its 
terror, and, if ever dawn did indeed come 
up like thunder, it was this. Then came 
the greatest miracle of all, for with the rose- 
flush in the sky the whole bird-chorus of 
108 
