1 91 9-] Bij'ds in the North of France. 61 



Fringilla ccelebs. Cliaffincli. 



Very common, though in one or two villages such as 

 Epeliy and Achiet le Grand they were scarce. In some 

 villages there were few suitable nesting-sites left, and at 

 Bertincourt a nest was built in a dead laurel. During the 

 last fortnight of October and early in November, many 

 hundreds were in a finch-flock on some rough ground at 

 Etaples and also among the marsh weeds in the Canche 

 estuary. In December in the firing-line at Givenchy. 



Fringilla montifringilla. Brambling. 



First seen on 19 October in a finch-flock at Etaples, and 

 commonly for the next three or four weeks there and 

 among the marsh weeds of the Canche estuary at low tide ; 

 on 27 December a few were feeding on the weeds growing 

 through the snow with a number of chaffinches and green- 

 finches — just behind the firing-line tiench at Givenchy. 



Last seen in March 1918 in Somme. 



Acanthis cannabina. Linnet. 



Common everywhere. Great flocks in the wasted area 

 west of Peronne in March 1917 ; in April a small flock of 

 a few score was always on or about a derelict clump of 

 telegraph-wires at Epehy where shells fell not infrequently. 

 In May I found a nest in a box-bush at Koisel. By 

 4 September it was flocking in bunches of 50 or so at 

 Achiet le Petit, and from 15 October for a month was in 

 many hundreds on rough ground at Etaples with other 

 finches ; it was specially fond of the marsh weeds in the 

 Canche estuary at low tide. 



A few in the Givenchy firing-line at the end of the year. 



Emberiza calandra. Corn-Bunting. 



Fairly common in Sonime, especially in the wasted area 

 west of Peronne in March 1917. In May it was commonly 

 seen and heard on the wire in front of our trenches at 

 Villers Pluich and Beaucamp, and was evidently nesting 

 hard by. Very common at Hebuterne in early August 1918 

 in the waste ground round the trenches. 



