Behaviour of Birds 



lines (Manchester Guardian, 2g.xi.i7), feed- 

 ing securely in this " No-man's-land " ; for 

 no man from either side dare venture from 

 his trench in pursuit, much less stop to pick 

 up a bird he might chance to shoot, for fear 

 of a sniper's bullet (Daily Express, 23.^.17). 



COOTS often indulged in a fight on their 

 own account, and paid little attention to the 

 shells which were falling close to them 

 (Scottish Naturalist, 1917, p. 139). 



MALLARD, resting on pools close to our 

 lines, were not in the least disturbed by the 

 boom of our guns firing over their heads. 

 They flighted regularly to their feeding-ground 

 somewhere within the German lines, and regu- 

 larly returned in spite of the terrific roar 

 and rattle of the artillery ; nothing could 

 make them forsake their resting-ground, 

 although to reach it they had to cross two 

 immense armies engaged in a deadly fight for 

 a strip of ground (Land and Water, I4.ix.i6). 

 DUCKS paid more heed to the odd rifle-shots 

 of the sniper than they did to the far greater 

 disturbance of the shells ; but on one occa- 

 sion, when a blazing balloon came down close 



126 



