Effect of War on Birds 



driven by gunfire from more usual haunts 

 in Flanders (Daily Mail, 10 . vii . 16). In 1917 

 it was publicly stated that, as the result of 

 gunfire, sixty kinds of migratory birds had 

 ceased to visit Britain (Observer, 24.vi.i7); 

 but this statement was soon disputed (Nature, 

 12. vii. 17). In 1919 it was suggested that the 

 scarcity of SNIPE in the British Isles, in the 

 past winter, was due to the effect of big-gun 

 firing in the North Sea and elsewhere, which 

 had deflected the direction of their migration 

 (Field, i.ii.ig). 



In spite of the above assertions I do not 

 believe that migration was seriously affected. 

 Incessant gunfire on certain parts of the 

 coast may have frightened away WILDFOWL 

 from the vicinity, but statistics from Great 

 Britain during the period of the War do not 

 show any marked diminution in our summer 

 visitants. From such reports as are avail- 

 able from the Palestine front it would appear 

 that migration went on uninterruptedly 

 (Field, 3O.iii.i8, p. 447), and a similar state 

 of affairs seems to have existed on the Meso- 

 potamian front and in the zone of our opera- 



148 



