Birds on the Western Front 



to the uproar of the fighting-line, because 

 they quickly realised that the destruction 

 was not loosed upon themselves (Dailty Mail, 

 ii.vi.i7). Indeed, one ornithologist was of 

 opinion that birds preferred the noise of battle 

 to the treacherous quiet of peace, when the 

 inhabitants of the countryside have plenty 

 of time to hunt and otherwise annoy them. 

 M. Reboussin has recorded the numbers of 

 birds seen and heard to the north-west of 

 Verdun, notwithstanding the constant artil- 

 lery duels going on day and night (Revue 

 Fran$aise d'Ornithologie, November 1916, pp. 

 81-92); and Dr. Arthur Allan, of Cornell 

 University, speaking at a meeting of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union at Phila- 

 delphia in 1916, stated that: "A doctor, 

 attached to an ambulance corps in France, 

 had counted thirty-five species of birds that 

 had built nests in ruins of buildings and 

 trenches abandoned by inhabitants and troops. 

 Artillery fire, which had swept away entire 

 sections of woods, failed to disturb the birds 

 which happened to be building there, and 

 numbers were seen actually building nests 



107 



