Behaviour of Birds 
—_—? 
p. 529). In our advance on Péronne a pet 
MAGPIE was found in the German trenches 
and was promptly appropriated by its captor. 
Acting on the adage of “ set a thief to catch 
a thief,’ a MAGPIE became the devoted 
guardian of a soldiers tent (The Shhere, 
29.111. 19). | 
The attacks on aeroplanes delivered by the 
JAcKDAws of St. Omer have already been 
recorded. 
SKYLARKS might at times be seen singing 
over trenches in which two armies were at 
death-grips, but they always sang in spite of 
everything (Daily Express, 23.11.17); in fact, 
the song of the SKYLARK at dawn over ‘“‘ No- 
man’s-land’’ was as usual as the song of the 
sniper’s bullet (Daily News and Leader, 
22.1v.16). SKYLARKS could be heard sing- 
ing on the Somme, well in advance of the 
large guns, whenever there was a lull in the 
almost incessant fire (Zimes, II.vi.16), and 
they might often be seen soaring to “‘ Heaven’s 
gate’’ when aeroplanes above were being 
vigorously shelled by anti-aircraft guns (Siar, 
3.vli.16). As a soldier-poet wrote : 
122 
