Effect of War on Birds 
driven by gunfire ffom more usual haunts 
in Flanders (Daily Mail, 10.vii.16). In 1917 
it was publicly stated that, as the result of 
gunfire, sixty kinds of migratory birds had 
ceased to visit Britain (Observer, 24.vi.17); 
but this statement was soon disputed (Nature, 
I2.vil.17). In 191g it was suggested that the 
scarcity of SNIPE in the British Isles, in the 
past winter, was due to the effect of big-gun 
firing in the North Sea and elsewhere, which 
had deflected the direction of their migration 
(Field, 1.11.19). 
In spite of the above assertions I do not 
believe that migration was seriously affected. 
Incessant gunfire on certain parts of the 
coast may have frightened away WILDFOWL 
from the vicinity, but statistics from Great 
Britain during the period of the War do not 
show any marked diminution in our summer 
visitants. From such reports as are avail- 
able from the Palestine front it would appear 
that migration went on uninterruptedly 
(Field, 30.iii1.18, p. 447), and a similar state 
of affairs seems to have existed on the Meso- 
potamian front and in the zone of our opera- 
148 
