Birds on the Western Front 



the only bird that felt thoroughly at home. 

 In the fields the ordinary birds of the season 

 were plentiful and unconcerned, % . and whejv 

 the summer migrants arrived they 'returned, 

 to their old haunts in the half-fetlf fl.orcliarcls 

 and the ruined houses and nested quite hap- 

 pily (Ibis, 1919, p. 57). In times of peace, 

 birds have been known to frequent noisy 

 places with marvellous persistency for in- 

 stance, it is on record that a PIED WAGTAIL 

 sat on her nest, placed under a railway switch 

 over which trains passed almost hourly, 

 without deserting it ; and, as I have already 

 said, Charles Waterton was of the opinion 

 that birds would get used to every sound 

 except that of the gun. It is therefore re- 

 markable that the outstanding feature of all 

 the notes which I have collected is the 

 unanimity with which all observers insist 

 on the remarkable indifference displayed by 

 birds to the noise of battle. 



At the beginning of the War it was ex- 

 pected that the battle-fronts would be de- 

 serted by all birds except those grim followers 

 of war, the VULTURE, RAVEN, and HOODIE- 



101 



