Change of Habit due to War 



come possible to plough one day and sow the 

 next, birds (such as GULLS, ROOKS, and PHEA- 

 SANTS) have not the same opportunity of de- 

 stroying wireworms and other noxious insects, 

 of which, under the more protracted system 

 of ploughing with horses, they so beneficially 

 availed themselves. 



It was not to be supposed that the un- 

 qualified success of the institution of "summer 

 time " would in any way affect Nature. PET 

 BIRDS in houses and POULTRY in farmyards 

 utterly ignored the " Willetted watch " (06- 

 server, 24.ix.i6); but a PEACOCK which had 

 always been in the habit of going to its 

 night rest at 8.40 p.m. is alleged to have re- 

 tired to bed at 8.40 p.m. (summer time) on 

 the first day of the innovation and to have 

 continued thereafter to do so ! (Daily Express, 

 27.v.i6). 



Mr. William Beebe, in his recently pub- 

 lished Monograph of the Pheasants, has pointed 

 out that the far-flung influence of the War 

 has granted a fresh lease of life to many 

 species, such as the PHASIANID^E, which were 

 jeopardised by the persecution of the plume- 



159 



