Birds as Messengers 



Bon jour, merry bird 1 

 Your bonny life we ask, 



That we may know 



When gases blow, 

 And spring to don a mask. 

 We would that we might mask you too, 

 So beautiful, so fair. 



You sing to-day 



Your roundelay, 

 And love is everywhere ! 



Bon soir, merry bird ! 



In war you've played your part 



Nor knew that death 



Was in the breath 

 That stilled your little heart. 

 Your perch swings idly in your cage 

 Unscathed we march along. 



So may we learn, 



If fortune turn, 

 To greet death with a song ! 



(Life : 14. xi. 18, p. 700). 



It is consoling to learn that CANARIES were 

 also used in ambulance trains to cheer our 

 wounded soldiers with their sweet song (Sport- 

 ing and Dramatic News, 8.vi.i8). 



SEA-GULLS on more than one occasion 

 betrayed the presence of submarines and 

 floating mines to anxious mariners. A French 

 writer, M. Louis Rousseau, claimed them as 



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