Effect of Captivity and Severe Weather 



August proved abnormally wet, windy, and 

 cold, but thereafter the weather was not 

 extraordinary, though early in July 1918 

 many parts of the country were threatened 

 with drought . According to the British Rain- 

 fall Organisation, however, there was, con- 

 trary to the popular impression, no drought 

 this summer (Observer, I4.vii.i8). This may 

 be so theoretically, or according to the 

 arbitrary rules adopted by the organisation 

 as to what constitutes a drought, but from 

 all parts of the country complaints were rife 

 as to the shortage of rain, and in many parish 

 churches prayers for rain were offered up. 



Birds in London, as the War dragged on, 

 found many of their sanctuaries invaded by 

 the presence of soldiers and even desecrated 

 by the erection of "temporary buildings." 

 Those of us who have had to live throughout 

 the year in London must have been struck 

 by the amount of bird life to be seen in the 

 metropolis. From my dentist's chair in 

 Harley Street I once saw a KESTREL hover- 

 ing, and was assured, when gagged and 

 bound I tried to point the bird out to him, 



73 



