Birds on the Western Front 



heard singing on the Somme whenever there 

 was a lull in the almost incessant fire (Times, 

 n.vi.i6). 



In April 1917 a flock of a few score LIN- 

 NETS was always on or about a derelict clump 

 of telegraph wires at Epehy, where shells fell 

 not infrequently (Ibis, 1919, p. 61). 



STARLINGS never had such opportunity for 

 unmolested housekeeping as in the remains 

 of the poor battered churches (Bird Notes and 

 News, vol. vii. p. 14). Flocks would sweep 

 out in a semicircle from some building 

 which had been struck by a shell, and then 

 swing back to it and settle almost before the 

 brick dust had completely cleared away 

 (Scotsman, 25.iii.i6). 



On one occasion a pair of MAGPIES went on 

 building their nest in a wood when the battle 

 was at its fiercest. Suddenly a shell struck 

 the foot of the tree, sending tree and nest 

 high into the air (Scottish Naturalist, 1917, 

 p. 139). A MAGPIE was seen to fly to a 

 crater, made by a shell a few seconds pre- 

 viously, and begin to feed on the grubs 

 among the freshly scattered earth (Ibis, 1917, 



121 



