Behaviour of Birds 



" A BLACKBIRD has a nest with four eggs in 

 it in that hole ; but I haven't told anyone ; 

 they might disturb the bird" (Daily Mail, 

 23.v.i6). When the hospital ship Llan- 

 dovery Castle was torpedoed in June 1918, 

 the second officer returned to the sinking 

 vessel in order to save his pet CANARY (Daily 

 Sketch, 3.vii.i8). It is recorded of the late 

 Lord Lucas that, on seeing a pair of MARSH 

 HARRIERS circling round their nest on his 

 Whittlesea property, he exclaimed to his 

 gamekeeper : " What a sight ! probably the 

 only pair breeding in the British Isles. This 

 is the next great thing to the War ! " (Bird 

 Notes and News, vol. vii. p. 69). A Scottish 

 miner, shortly afterwards killed on the Wes- 

 tern front, told a friend : " If it weren't for 

 the birds, what a hell it would be ! I watch 

 them singing, and something comes into my 

 throat that makes me almost greet " (Dum- 

 fries and Galloway Standard, y.viii.iS). 

 Surely " a master bias ... to gentle scenes " 

 predominated, as in the Happy Warrior, 

 among our fighting men. 



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