348 Major W. M. Congreve : Ornithological and [Ibis, 



XXI. — Ornithological and Oological Notes from the River 

 Somme valley at its Mouth and near Peronne. By Major 

 W. Maitland Congkeve, M.C, 11. A., INI.B.O.U. 



The River Sorame for many miles from its mouth is 

 canalized, but owiu^ to the fact that it runs through a 

 wide flat-bottomed valley it is unable to drain the sur- 

 rounding meadows, which are normally very marshy and 

 iutersected by reed and rush-grown irrigation ditches. 



In many places in the valley there are large sheets of 

 deep water^ surrounded by swamps and osier plantations. 

 The sides of the valley are fairly- well wooded, and the 

 numerous villages are surrounded by fine old orchards of 

 apple and pear. The higher ground above the valley is 

 undulating and open, and highly cultivated with corn, 

 sugar-beet, lucerne, etc. There are few hedges except in 

 the neighbourhood of villages, but there is a fair amount 

 of cover for birds in the numerous small, and in places 

 very large, woods which owing to the war have not been 

 kept free of undergrowth in the usual methodical French 

 way. 



The above is a rough description of the district in Avhich 

 the writer worked from March to early June of 1917. 

 During June and part oE July he soldiered in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Peronne. There the River Somme is a fairly 

 fast clear stream, normally several hundreds of yards wide 

 and much choked, except in the main channel, by dense 

 reed-beds interspersed by sluggish channels overgrown by 

 water-loving weeds. The surrounding country is open and 

 undulating. There are numerous small woods, but villages, 

 orchards, and cultivation are non-existent owing to the 

 depredations of the Hun in the great retreat following 

 the Battle of the Somme. 



The writer of these lines had only odd hours iu which to 

 take notes of birds and nests, and did not waste any time 

 on species which did not interest him oologically, except 

 that he made an occasional entry in his note-book about the 



