Behaviour of Birds 



CROWS, MAGPIES, HAWKS, SPARROWS, and 

 other birds common alike to us and our 

 European Allies. To compile a catalogue of 

 the lists of birds recorded at the front would 

 serve no useful purpose here, and it has been 

 my endeavour only to draw attention to any 

 change of habit, peculiar trait, or extra- 

 ordinary behaviour noticed among birds, as 

 attributable in any way to the War. More- 

 over, such observations as are at my disposal 

 are derived from reports by soldiers confined 

 perforce to but a very limited portion of the 

 front held by the British troops, so that a bird, 

 described as common in one part of the line, 

 might be rare in another. 



It is difficult to sum up the effect of the 

 battle on the Western Front on birds . Though 

 bird life has been described as almost normal 

 in the artillery area and up to within a short 

 distance of the trenches, many species must 

 have been banished from areas which had 

 been devastated by the effects of shell fire 

 (Ibis, 1917, p. 528). Very few of the familiar 

 garden birds still clung to the flattened vil- 

 lages, and the HOUSE SPARROW seemed to be 



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