Effect of War on Birds 



clutch was the result of the fright which the 

 female had sustained. 



It was noticed that SWALLOWS and MAR- 

 TINS on the Western Front habitually circled 

 more closely than usual to human beings, 

 doubtless attracted in search of the insects 

 disturbed from the tangle of weeds (Scotsman, 

 I5.ix.i7), and this habit was also noticed 

 in Palestine (Field, 30.iii.i8, p. 447). 



Eye-witnesses in France were impressed by 

 the fact that all live creatures who had ex- 

 perienced the blast from a gun appeared to 

 avoid passing in front of one ; birds proved 

 no exception to this rule (Land and Water, 

 I4.ix.i6). 



The powers of mimicry of the STARLING 

 found scope, writes an artillery officer on the 

 Western Front, in the imitation of the three 

 shrill blasts on a whistle used to denote the 

 approach of enemy aeroplanes. " It was 

 great fun," he writes, "to see everyone 

 diving for cover, and I was nearly deceived 

 myself one day " (Bird Notes and News, 

 vol. vii. p. 115). A similar story is told of an 

 OWL in the vicinity of the London " Outer 



156 



