Birds on the Western Front 



seen rising in a body whenever a shell struck 

 the roof on which they were perching (Land 

 and Water, I4.ix.i6). 



MARTINS and SWALLOWS flew over and 

 about the trenches even when the Maxims 

 were rattling away, scattering their deadly 

 shower of bullets (Scotsman, n.viii.i7). 

 Quite a hundred HOUSE-MARTINS and SWAL- 

 LOWS used to circle, in the spring of 1918, 

 around the cathedral and adjacent church 

 tower of Ypres. These were daily shelled 

 and hit ; none the less, nest building went on 

 with patience and perseverance, the neces- 

 sary mud being obtained from very old shell- 

 holes and the canal banks (Observer, 5.1.19). 

 At one part of the line HOUSE-MARTINS de- 

 lighted to build their nests under the cornice, 

 decorated with cupids and flowers, surround- 

 ing a wall that was once part of the ballroom 

 of an historic chateau (Scotsman, i6.vi. 



17). 



A SAND-MARTIN'S nest, full of young birds, 

 was found on the exposed side of a German 

 trench captured in July 1918 ; the parent 

 birds, though they had survived a long and 



119 



