Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft 



some occasions the birds' curiosity seems to 

 have been aroused rather than their fear, 

 and a flock of BLACK-HEADED GULLS, in 

 Perthshire, were seen to pursue three hydro- 

 planes (Scottish Naturalist, 1916, p, 66). On 

 the approach of an aeroplane after dark to a 

 fir wood, it was noticed that the WOOD- 

 PIGEONS, which had come in to roost, rose in 

 a mass and fluttered noisily round and round, 

 PHEASANTS crowed and flew to and fro, and 

 all the small birds twittered and called. A 

 WHITETHROAT and a WILLOW WARBLER be- 

 gan snatches of song and broke off abruptly ; 

 only a LONG-EARED OWL sat tight and showed 

 no fear (Bird Notes and News, vol. vi. p. 103). 

 A bird-lover who lives in Kensington Palace 

 Green tells me that the birds were very 

 much alarmed by the earlier raids. SPARROWS 

 and OWLS became restless about an hour or 

 thirty minutes beforehand. A GREEN PAR- 

 ROT shrieked repeatedly. On one occasion a 

 SPARROW fainted, but, after having been kept 

 in the house all night, flew away next morn- 

 ing. A tame PIGEON, which was always 

 very nervous, sat in its owner's hand in a 

 G 81 



