BIRDS AND THE WAR

BIOLOGY LIBRARY

BIRDS AND THE WAR

BIRDS AND THE WAR

BY

HUGH S. GLADSTONE

M.A., F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., ETC.

SKEFFINGTON & SON, LTD.

34 SOUTHAMPTON STREET'

STRAND, W.C.2

1919

BIOLOGY

LIBRARY

G

SIOLOGY LIBRARY

FOREWORD

rHINK, every morning when the sun
peeps through

The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the
grove,
How jubilant the happy birds renew

Their old, melodious madrigals of love /
And when you think of this, remember too

'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
• • • • •

You slay them all ! and wherefore ? for the
gain

Of a scant handful more or less of wheat,
Or rye, or barley, or some other grain,

Scratched up at random by industrious feet,
Searching for worm or weevil after rain !

Or a few cherries, that are not so sweet
As are the songs these uninvited guests
Sing at their feast with comfortable breasts.

935700

Foreword

You call them thieves and pillagers; but

know

They are the winged wardens of your farms,
Who from the cornfields drive the insidious

foe,

And from your harvests keep a hundred
harms"

LONGFELLOW.

vi

PREFACE

ON the outbreak of the European War
In 1914 1 made up my mind to collect
all the information I could regarding
its effects upon the life of Birds. The result
has been the accumulation of a large collec-
tion of cuttings, from scientific publications
as well as newspapers, and it has been with
no little difficulty that this has been collated.
I regret that none of my information has
been derived at first hand; my military
duties kept me in London, but " the looker-
on sees most of the game," and there is no
doubt that my position gave me exceptional
facilities, which otherwise I might not have
had, for accumulating the mass of notes now
at my disposal.

The subject of Birds and the War is one
which it is hoped will one day be tackled
scientifically and internationally. It has been
already considered in Russia by the Petro-

vii

Preface

grad Society of Naturalists under Mr. D. M.
Rossinsky and Professor D. N. Kaigorodov ;
in France by MM, Cunisset-Carnot, Rebous-
sin, and Edmond Perrier ; in Germany by
Veterinary Surgeon Dr. Reuter ; in America
by Dr. Arthur Allan, head of Cornell Univer-
sity ; and probably other authorities, of whom
I am unaware, have contributed to the sub-
ject. I can claim nothing original for my
observations ; the majority of the notes I
quote appeared anonymously in newspapers,
but some are by recognised authorities such
as Messrs. Charles Dixon, A. H. Patterson,
Thoburn Clarke, Oliver G. Pike, and Miss
E. L. Turner.

For lack of better arrangement I have
arranged my notes in five chapters, divided
again into twelve sections, which seem more
or less to cover the subject as I have dealt
with it. There are, however, some ramifica-
tions which remain untraced and it has been
impossible to utilise all of my notes. For
example, when writing of the utility of birds,
I have omitted to state that the New Zealand
Government sent a quantity of SWANS' quills,

viii

Preface

with appropriate paintings thereon, to be
sold for the benefit of the Belgian Relief
Fund at is. and 2s. 6d. each. Nor have I
mentioned cases in which spies carried on
apparently harmless correspondence, using
the names of birds, fish, and animals to de-
note airships, submarines, and other engines of
war. Again birds figured largely in the car-
toons which appeared from time to time in the
comic papers. They played their part also
in the auctions which were held throughout
the country on behalf of "war charities";
in August 1918 it was announced that the
famous Warboys (Huntingdonshire) COCKEREL
had raised £12,762 for the Red Cross. In
three years he had travelled 17,300 miles, had
been sold 10,960 times, and had made close
on fifty times his weight in gold (Daily Ex-
press, 3O.viii.i8). Naturally the war caused
no little stir in our scientific societies, in
which there was bound to be a proportion of
alien, if not enemy, members, and it may
safely be said that no society took up this
question more hotly than the British Ornith-
ologists' Union ; the annual general meetings

ix

Preface

of 1917 and 1918 were so stormy that they
are not likely to be soon forgotten by any
member who was present. Ramifications
such as these I have indicated show that
the subjects of Birds and the War might
be prolonged to infinity; my method of
dealing with it makes no claim to finality.
Had I extended the range of my notes to
include the effect of the war on Animals,
Reptiles, and Insects, I might have recorded
many strange stories ; but none more re-
markable than that of the frogs in the marshy
Aillette district, which are alleged, when the
Germans were preparing to storm the Chemins
des Dames, to have croaked so vociferously
that they enabled the enemy to bring up
their batteries and ammunition columns with-
out discovery, whilst when the attack was
actually launched the frogs' deafening con-
cert prevented the location of the hostile
machine guns (Lokalanzeiger, 3.vii.i8). I
have, however, tried to keep within the limits
prescribed by my title — BIRDS AND THE WAR.
This introduction will explain the concep-
tion of my work in which I am aware that

x

Preface

much is lacking. It is obvious that its pub-
lication is premature until the whole subject
can be studied internationally. For instance,
the real economic conditions prevalent in
Germany are as yet so imperfectly known
that it is impossible to assess the value placed
on birds as food ; the legislation affecting
them is unknown, and must remain so until
a period of peace has elapsed sufficient to
safeguard the revelation of this secret as of
no military value. The German, Austrian,
and other enemy journals have not been
accessible, and doubtless much information
could be obtained by a careful scrutiny of
our Allies' scientific publications such as the
Revue Fran^aise d'Ornithologie, etc. Now that
the embargo on the disclosure of certain mili-
tary details, previously regarded as secret,
has been removed, and with the return home
of many soldiers from the front, information
on the subject of " Birds and the War " is
only now being brought to light.

Fully realising that my work is but an im-
perfect sketch of the finished picture, I have
been careful to give references for all my

xi

Preface

statements so that they may at least prove
of assistance to any one who may hereafter
work up the subject as it deserves. I had
hoped to delay the publication of my book
until after the declaration of peace, when I
might have had leisure to sift and to elaborate
my notes, but this hope has been frustrated
by the knowledge that more important work
will then confront me ; I have therefore felt
compelled to publish them as they now stand.
I must thank my friend Captain Harold
Stannard for his assistance in preparing my
notes for publication and also for reading
the proofs of the book. As regards the pic-
tures and photographs which I have been
enabled to reproduce as illustrations, I am
indebted to the courtesy of the Imperial
War Museum (Photographic Section) for
Plates i, 2, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, and 17 ; to the
Canadian War Records Office for Plates 3
and 4; to the Associated Illustration Agencies,
Ltd., for Plate 5 ; to Mr. F. W. Frohawk
and the Editor of The Field for Plate 6 ; to
the Alfieri Picture Service for Plate 9 ; to
the London Electrotype Agency, Ltd., for

xli

Preface

Plate 14 ; to Miss Estella Canziani, the
French War Emergency Fund, and the
Medici Society, Ltd., for Plate 10 ; and to
Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd., for Plate n.

HUGH S. GLADSTONE.

40 LENNOX GARDENS, S.W.I.
April 1919.

xiii

CONTENTS

I. UTILITY AND ECONOMY OF BIRDS
IN THE WAR

PAOB

1. BIRDS AS MESSENGERS . . .; 3

2. BIRDS AS CROP PROTECTORS , . 2Q

3. BIRDS AS FOOD . ,x. * ? « . 42

4. BIRDS' EGGS AS FOOD .> . :\ go

II. SUFFERINGS OF BIRDS IN THE
WAR

5. EFFECT OF THE WAR ON BIRDS IN

CAPTIVITY, AND DURING SEVERE
WEATHER * . *.* . 67

6. DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS AT SEA * 75

7. EFFECT OF AIR-RAIDS AND AIR-CRAFT

ON BIRDS . V V" < 80

XV

Contents

III. BEHAVIOUR OF BIRDS IN THE
WAR ZONES

8. BIRDS ON THE WESTERN FRONT . 99

9. BIRDS ON THE GALLIPOLI, ITALIAN,

MACEDONIAN, PALESTINE, AND
MESOPOTAMIAN FRONTS v . 135

IV. EFFECT OF THE WAR ON BIRDS

10. MIGRATION IN WAR-TIME . jjg? 143

11. CHANGE OF HABITS IN BIRDS DUE TO

THE WAR :* '*\ *, - v. 154

V. CONCLUSION

12. ORNITHOLOGISTS KILLED IN THE

WAR » :^ jjfj*. r && 165

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. "An EAGLE . . . became the pet of a sub-

altern " . . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

2. " Our Military Pigeon Service . . . grew to large

proportions " . / . •„ . 8

3. " The PIGEONS were taken, by bicyclists, in

wicker crates to the front-line trenches " 9

4. " PIGEONS . . . proved of the greatest use ;

particularly when the telegraph and tele-
phone wires had been cut by shell fire " . 16

5. " HOMERS were taken up in aeroplanes, and

' tossed ' with messages from behind the
German lines" .» . . ;..> • . - ..-,.. 17

6. " Had the feat of this PIGEON been performed

by a human being, it might well have been
rewarded by the V.C." . ! . .v . 32

7. " Although hundreds of CANARIES were killed

by our shell and gas, those that were
rescued . . . were . . . well cared for " . 33
xvii

List of Illustrations

PXATJC PACIXO PACK

8. " CANARIES were . . . used in ambulance trains

to cheer our wounded soldiers with their
sweet song " ^ . ,<, . . 48

9. " The first woman gamekeeper " . • > • 48

10. " A wounded soldier . . . feeding the GULLS " 49

11. " A bird hostel, where soldiers' pet birds were

received " .. . , .. .. I ... 80

12. " A landscape of shattered trees and the

ground so torn up by shells that there
scarcely remained a single blade of grass " 81

13. " To go up the communication trenches is like

a ramble down a country lane " • . 81

14. " SWALLOWS quietly perched on war-telegraph

wires " .... . . 112

15. "A pet MAGPIE . . . found in the German

trenches" . ' . '' /;:; \ V 'i- 113

16. " A PIGEON . . . accompanied the guns through

several fights" .._ . * * . 144

17. " A STORK . . . acquked the habit of meeting

our aeroplanes" . * V » > • 145

XVlll

I— UTILITY AND ECONOMY OF
BIRDS IN THE WAB

B

i— BIRDS AS MESSENGERS

IN the " Pigeon Post" we have the most
obvious example of service rendered to
man by birds during the war. The
HOMING PIGEON, whose speed of flight has
been estimated at from 880 to 2,000 yards
per minute according to weather conditions,
has naturally played an important part.
The first use of PIGEONS as message carriers
is wrapped in the mystery of antiquity.
Solomon is alleged to have transmitted orders
throughout his kingdom by means of HOMING
PIGEONS, the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and
Romans employed these birds in their armies,
and the victory at the siege of Modena(43 B.C.)
has been attributed to PIGEONS. After the
conquest of Gaul, relays of PIGEONS carried
the news to Rome, as, in later days, the
news of the victory at Waterloo was brought
to England by PIGEONS some days in ad-
vance of the official courier (Country Life,

3

Utility and Economy of Birds

4.1. 19), In the Franco- Prussian War of 1870
they were extensively used, and in the South
African War of 1899-1902 they were also
employed. Owing to the advent of wireless
telegraphy it was decided by the Admiralty,
in 1918, that the Naval Pigeon Service was
obsolete, and the Government PIGEONS were
therefore disposed of (Referee, 22.xii.i8).
At the beginning of the war the British
authorities took a characteristic course in
dealing with these birds. They ordered the
internment, or destruction, of all PIGEONS
along the coast; Thousands of lives of men
depended upon the reversal of that edict,
and upon the use, instead of slaughter, of the
birds. The mine-sweepers were the first to
realise the existence of a means of communi-
cation possible where all others failed, and
an emergency Pigeon Service was established
through private owners by means of which
mine-sweepers were enabled to send informa-
tion to shore of large minefields newly laid
and other dangers of the sea (Bird Notes
and News, vol. viii. p. 25). Gradually it was
recognised that PIGEONS would prove of great

4

Birds as Messengers

military importance : steps were taken to
set up an effective " carrier " service, pigeon-
fanciers came forward with the utmost
patriotism to present their birds, and a little
later severe penalties were enforced under
D.O.R.A. for shooting CARRIER PIGEONS.
It was even held that it was the duty of the
public, in their own interest, to feed, water,
and care for any stray HOMERS which might
come into their possession (Daily Express,
i8.vii.i8). In spite of these precautions,
several fell victims during the shoots organised
in this country to thin the immigrant hordes
of WOOD PIGEONS.

Our Military Pigeon Service, under Cap-
tain A. H. Osman, grew to large proportions,
and, though it was not till March 1916 that
the first British PIGEONS were sent over to
the Western Front, our birds soon became
as useful to us as those employed by our
Allies in France and Belgium, in which latter
country the training and rearing of PIGEONS
has long ranked as a national sport. In the
earlier days old omnibuses were used as
travelling lofts, but later on up-to-date

5

Utility and Economy of Birds

motor lofts were extensively employed. The
PIGEONS were taken by bicyclists in wicker
crates to the front-line trenches, where they
proved of the greatest use ; particularly
when the telegraph and telephone wires had
been cut by shell fire, and when it became
impossible for the intrepid "runners" to
bring back messages on foot. Pigeon-post
messages when written and folded are carried
in a cup placed in a small cylindrical carrier
of aluminium clipped to the bird's leg. The
PIGEON on returning to one of the latest type
of lofts, hearing its mate calling inside, finds
its way to a ledge under the window fitted with
hinged wires that only open inwards. Push-
ing through these, the bird's weight presses
on the lightly balanced interior platform,
completing an electric circuit and so ringing
a bell, which warns the attendant in his
dug-out of the arrival of a messenger. Some
of the longest distances flown in the war
were 300 miles, and one female PIGEON flew
1 66 sea-miles three weeks in succession with
despatches from the North Sea. Usually the
birds fly these long distances about once a

6

Birds as Messengers

week, but they require rest after them. It
has been calculated that as many as 100,000
PIGEONS were employed by the British forces
during the war, and their demobilisation
was announced in January 1919 (Daily News,

22.1.19).

In November 1914 the German invaders
of France issued orders by which it was " ex-
pressly forbidden to keep live PIGEONS of
any breed/' and a penalty of fifty francs for
each bird was imposed. The wretched in-
habitants reluctantly killed all the birds
they could, but many escaped and were
driven to the fields. Here they were shot
at by any passing German soldier, and if
they alighted on some peasant's roof they
were driven off with volleys of stones for fear
of incurring the penalty of a fine : PIGEONS
had a hard time of it. It has been estimated
that a million Belgian PIGEONS were stolen
by the Germans during their occupation ;
just before the Armistice some 25,000 were
taken, of which only 5,000 were found at
Spandau. Little hope is entertained of re-
covering the remainder of the missing birds,

7

Utility and Economy of Birds

which are believed to have been killed and
eaten by the hungry German soldiers (Daily
Express, 25.1.19).

Although on the Continent spies were
arrested for making use of this medium to
convey messages, no such cases appear to
have been reported in this country. In this
connection it is amusing to note that the
recovery of birds ringed for the investiga-
tion of migration was often regarded as
suspicious ; a BLACK-HEADED GULL, ringed
"M — VIBORG: DENMARK/' which was shot
in Suffolk in December 1916, was forwarded
to the military authorities, who passed the
ring to the Admiralty with the following
comment : " This looks as if addressee had
been trying to train a GULL as a carrier to
England : this has often been tried, but is
generally considered unreliable/'

HOMING PIGEONS were extensively used
by our fleet, and it is recorded that Skipper
Thomas Crisp, V.C., who died at the wheel
under fire from a German submarine, lived
long enough to despatch a message by
PIGEON : through the timely arrival of the

8

Birds as Messengers

bird his son and crew were saved. An R.A.F.
seaplane, patrolling over the North Sea, made
a forced descent and was in danger of being
dashed to pieces by the heavy sea. The
airmen released a PIGEON with a message
asking for immediate help, and in twenty-
two minutes the bird reached its loft twenty-
two miles distant. Help was at once sent,
and the airmen were found clinging to the
wreckage of the machine, which was rapidly
breaking up (Daily Mail, 30 . ix . 18). A touch-
ing story is told by a Canadian, Flight-Com-
mander R. Leckie, D.S.O., in a letter home,
published in an American newspaper. After
an engagement with hostile aircraft over the
North Sea he came down, his seaplane riddled
with shrapnel, over fifty miles from land, and
then had to act as rescuer and host to the
crew of an aeroplane, wrecked by engine
failure. Six men were thus adrift in a
doomed machine, with no food and little
water. The commander had four pigeons :
one was released at once, a second on the
next day, a third on the third day. All
failed to reach home, perishing over the

9

Utility and Economy of Birds

waste of waters. The fourth, set free in a
fog, hungry and thirsty, struggled over the
fifty miles of sea without a landmark and
without a rest. The bird could not reach
his loft, but fluttered down in a coastguard
station, and there fell dead from exhaustion ;
but his message was delivered and six men
were saved (Bird Notes and News, vol. viii.
p. 26). A PIGEON, sent on a seaplane carry-
ing out duties in the North Sea, brought
back the message " attacked.71 The observer
had not time to write more, and the bird
Itself, shot through the left eye by a bullet
during the encounter which resulted in the
loss of the seaplane, only just managed to
struggle to its loft. It was promptly "pen-
sioned off " war service and became the pet
of the aerodrome (Daily Chronicle, ii.ix.i8).
PIGEONS once wounded while serving their
country were not allowed again on duty ;
they were fed on the best and became
perfectly tame, answering to such names
as "Haig," " Kitchener ," and " Amiens "
(Daily Mirror, 2O.ix.i8).

HOMERS were taken up in aeroplanes and
10

Birds as Messengers

" tossed " with messages from behind the
German lines. Advantage was also taken
of the fact that behind the German lines
there were large towns or thickly populated
areas occupied by a friendly people, many of
whom, moreover, knew all about HOMING
PIGEONS, as the North of France and Bel-
gium, like Yorkshire and Lancashire, were
centres of the " fancy." By a combination
of close meteorological study and ingenious
mechanical devices it became possible to
drop baskets containing our PIGEONS on
occupied areas where the chances were that
they would fall into friendly hands. These
hands knew where to take them, and in due
course quite a large percentage arrived at
our lofts bearing valuable information (Times,
3o.xii.i8). PIGEONS were also made use
of for " counter-espionage/' The Germans
made a splendidly finished message-carrier
with a red seal at the top ; from time to time
our troops captured German PIGEONS in the
trenches, but could not use them to send
messages as they had no similar holders.
A medal maker of Birmingham, however,

ii

Utility and Economy of Birds

imitated the well-made German holder so
perfectly that it was impossible to tell those
he made from the captured original. There-
after a number of "dud" messages were
sent to German lofts with their own birds
(Daily Mail, g.iv.ig).

In Italy, on at least one occasion, a
pigeon-post message brought the news that
an Austrian convoy was moving in front of
the British lines ; an aeroplane was at once
despatched and completely disorganised the
convoy (Daily Mail, 26.vi.i8). A com-
pany of French troops, cut off from their
fellows by a curtain of fire at Verdun,
owed their deliverance to a HOMING PIGEON
(New York American, 28.iv.i8). One of the
most important factors of the defence in the
Eastern Champagne on July isth, 1918, was
the smooth working of the Information Ser-
vice under the German bombardment. Each
pill-box fort in the covering zone was supplied
with a crate of CARRIER PIGEONS, and the
birds brought back news of every movement
of the enemy and every phase of the fight to
the command posts. One officer commander,

12

Birds as Messengers

with experience of intelligence work, interro-
gated German prisoners who were brought
into his pill-box as they arrived, and
despatched the information derived from
the bewildered Germans by " colombogram "
almost as quickly as it could have been sent
by telegram. In another case the garrison of
a pill-box sent back by PIGEON a request
that artillery should immediately open on
the ground around their stronghold, taking
no thought for their own safety, as the Ger-
mans were about to surround them (Morn-
ing Post, ig.vii.i8). The officer who com-
manded the first Tank Corps Battalion stated
that PIGEONS had frequently saved the situa-
tion for him. Neither a gas cloud nor a
heavy barrage of artillery fire deterred these
messengers from bringing their despatches.
The battle of Monchy is alleged to have been
won through a flying message to the troops
at the base ; a counter-attack at Arras was
smashed by the same means (Bird Notes and
News, vol. viii. p. 25).

Although the HOMING PIGEONS on the
Western Front were of the greatest use, as

13

Utility and Economy of Birds

many as a thousand birds being sometimes
employed in a single engagement, their value
was not always properly estimated. There
Is a story that, when pressed hard to find a
dinner for his master, a faithful " batman "
served up what he simply described as " a
brace of birds." They proved excellent eat-
ing, but a subsequent enquiry from Head-
quarters as to the loss of two valuable
HOMING PIGEONS led to investigations. The
"batman" eventually revealed the origin of
the dainty dish to his master, and after being
warned that, if found out, it would certainly
mean a court-martial, was asked if he had left
any evidence, such as the basket; to which
he replied, "Couldn't cook 'em without mak-
ing a fire, sir" (Daily Mail, s.ii.ig). The
men to whom the CARRIER PIGEONS were
consigned occasionally became bored by
their precious charges. One day a practice
" PIGEON message " was received from a
somewhat "fed-up" Australian battalion
rather weary of sending practice PIGEON mes-
sages during many weeks. The latest mes-
sage when decoded read thus: — " In view of

Birds as Messengers

the shortage of paper, what about crossing
these birds with cockatoos and teaching them
to deliver verbal messages ? " (Globe,
3i.v.i8). On another occasion, during an
engagement on a big scale, a certain Head-
quarters Staff was very anxiously awaiting
news. For a long while none came. Then
a PIGEON flew into sight, circled several
times, and alighted on a roof. A man was
sent to catch it. He brought down the
packet containing the message. The Staff
gathered round the officer who took the mes-
sage. They listened with intense eagerness
to learn the news. What the officer read out
was : " I am fed up with this blasted bird "
(Daily Mail, I4.iii.i8). This story, when
brought to the attention of the War Office,
provoked an encomium of our Pigeon Ser-
vice, which, it was said by the officer in
charge, had proved invaluable, the birds
frequently homing through gas clouds and
barrage after all other means of communica-
tion had failed. All the birds were presented
to the service from the finest strains of long-
distance pedigree stock, and the majority of

15

Utility and Economy of Birds

the men in charge of them were life-long
fanciers devoted to the work. In one of the
greatest battles, where PIGEONS were largely
used, 100 per cent, of the messages were
delivered under most difficult circumstances,
and it was stated authoritatively that thou-
sands of lives had been saved by PIGEONS
homing from seaplanes or mine-sweepers in
distress (Daily Mail, 22.iii.i8). Admiralty
records showed that 95 per cent, of the
several thousand PIGEONS employed in the
Naval Pigeon Service came through with
their messages(Z)fli/y Mail and Daily Chronicle,
7.v.i8). The PIGEONS of the Royal Air
Force, up till the end of 1918, had brought
no fewer than 717 messages of distress from
aircraft down on the surface of the water.
In carrying these messages the birds covered
an aggregate of 20,000 miles (Referee, 22.xii.

18).
The Germans erected special gas-proof

cotes for their PIGEONS and went so far as to
camouflage their birds by giving them a
coating of paint. A message taken from one
of these German PIGEONS pays our troops a

16

Birds as Messengers

back-handed compliment: " Field Battery
No. 36. Our telephone is out of order.
Send us at once reinforcements. These ac-
cursed Englishmen keep us busy. Muller,
ist Lieutenant " (Daily Mail, 5.iv.i6). By
observation plus instinct most of our birds
rapidly learned their route from the trenches ;
though shy at first, the PIGEONS got " wise "
to shell fire and old birds made away
from the dug-outs with knowing swiftness.
PIGEONS proved hardy and recovered from
exposure to gas. They were rarely shot dead
while flying, and birds with shrapnel in the
breast or with broken beaks gamely tried
to carry their missives home. In the action
which was fought in the region of the Menin
Road on October 3rd, 1917, a PIGEON, No.
2,709, was despatched with a message from
the front line to divisional headquarters at
1.30 p.m. During its passage it was struck
by a German bullet which broke one of its
legs, denuding the bone (the tibia) of all
flesh, and drove the metal cylinder contain-
ing the message into the side of its body,
the bullet passing out of its back. In spite
C 17

Utility and Economy of Birds

of its wounds, and although out in the wet all
night, the bird struggled home to its loft, a
distance of nine miles, and delivered its mes-
sage at 10.53 a.m. the following day, Octo-
ber 4th, dying shortly after its arrival (The
Field, 2.11.1918). The bird has now been
added to the museum of the Royal United
Service Institution, Whitehall, where it may
be seen stuffed in a glass case labelled "Died
of wounds received in action " (Daily Mail,
25.vii.i8). Had the feat of this PIGEON
been performed by a human being, it might
well have been rewarded by the V.C.

It is impossible to estimate the value of
the " carrier " service to the Naval, Military,
and Air Forces. Not only were our PIGEONS
extensively employed on the Western Front,
but also at Salonika, in Italy, Egypt, Meso-
potamia, and elsewhere, and on innumerable
occasions they carried life-and-death mes-
sages with superhuman pluck and persever-
ance. Doubtless our enemies would speak
as highly of the services of their HOMERS. A
German pigeon-loft with thirty-five PIGEONS,
captured by the Canadians at Folies, near

18

Birds as Messengers

Arras, on August gth, 1918, was presented to
the Zoological Society of London in October.
The two Germans in charge of the loft at-
tempted, on the near approach of the Cana-
dians, to burn it, but our men quickly de-
spatched the Germans and extinguished the
flames. The marks of the fire, however,
remain, and several bullet-holes maybe seen
penetrating the outside frame of the loft
(Times, 2.xi.i8).

In March 1918, when every one was invited
to invest their money in War Bonds, an addi-
tional attraction was afforded by the Pigeon
Post Service which carried messages from
the investor's home to the Tank Bank in
Trafalgar Square, notifying the amount of
the investment. Queen Alexandra's PIGEON
attracted a crowd of people to the mobile loft
when the bird arrived, within at minute, from
Marlborough House with the announcement
that Her Majesty wished to purchase 500
War Savings Certificates on behalf of the
Queen Alexandra League (Globe, 4.iii.i8).
In America the HOMER was likened to "the
DOVE sent out from the Ark of Noah which

Utility and Economy of Birds

brought wanted news then ; so do the
CARRIER PIGEONS of the war zone bring
their messages now" (New York American,
28.iv.i8). A recruiting message from Lady
Reading was carried in May 1918 from
Washington by three CARRIER PIGEONS to
New York, where it was read at a mass
meeting under the auspices of the British
and Canadian Recruiting Committee (The
Times, 3O.v.i8). In the pageant of the
Lord Mayor's Show of 1918 a travelling
pigeon-loft took part in the procession to
remind the public of the splendid achieve-
ments performed by members of the Carrier
Pigeon Service, which has been not inaptly
dubbed the " First Flying Corps" (Bird
Notes and News, vol. viii. p. 25). Before
April 1919 the demobilisation of the PIGEONS
and their attendants in France had taken
place with the exception of birds and men
selected for the Army of Occupation. Some
9,000 to 10,000 birds that had served their
country well had to be disposed of. They
would have been a drug on the English
market if they had been sent home and the

20

Birds as Messengers

cost of the transaction would probably have
been more than the birds would have realised.
They were therefore sold at Courtrai, Lille,
and other places in France and Belgium, and
the proceeds of sale divided among charitable
institutions, in accordance with the wish of
the breeders who gave the birds to the
country for the war (Daily Mail, g.iv.

The HOMING PIGEON has been ridiculously
libelled during the war, for no spy melodrama
or novelette has been complete without one
or more of these attractive birds, which are
invariably represented as working for the
Germans. Ever since the original war story
of the market-woman of Armentieres, or
Arras, or Rheims (it is told by veracious
eye-witnesses of all these towns and many
more) whose figure attracted the attention
of the alert soldiery and whose bust flew
away when they arrested her, the HOMING
PIGEON has laboured under a load of sus-
picion (Daily Express, is.v.iS). As a matter
of fact, it may safely be said that His Majesty
had no more devoted, though unwitting, ser-

21

Utility and Economy of Birds

vants than the HOMING PIGEONS of his army
and navy.

It is of interest to note that PARROTS were
employed, early in the war, at the Eiffel
Tower to announce the approach of hostile
aircraft. It was found at first that the birds
gave warning fully twenty minutes before
an aeroplane or airship could be identified
by the eye or heard by the human ear. The
birds, however, which could never be trained
to discriminate between a French and a
German aeroplane, appear to have grown
indifferent or bored, so that they ceased to
be trustworthy (Daily Mail, i.ii.iS).

It is well known that CANARIES, being
about fifteen times more sensitive than a man
to poisonous gases, are used in mines and
in mining disasters to test atmospheric con-
ditions and save miners or explorers from
gas-poisoning. The Government Mines Com-
mittee recommended that two or three birds
should be kept at rescue stations for the
testing for carbon-monoxide. Our soldiers
on the Western Front are said on one occa-
sion to have been warned, by the behaviour

22

Birds as Messengers

of wild birds in the night, of a coming attack
of poisonous gas. Before the smell of the
fumes could be perceived in the trenches, the
soldiers were awakened to their danger by
the noise of birds which had detected the first
fumes of the vile infection (Bird Notes and
News, vol. vi. p. 102). CANARIES and other
cage birds were extensively used by both
our own and the German miners at the front,
when tunnelling, to detect the presence of
subterranean gas (Daily Mail, 2g.v.i8). A
soldier, writing of his company's CANARY,
says : " Many were the nights on which he
was rudely disturbed from his slumbers,
dumped unceremoniously into a sandbag,
and carried through rain and snow up to the
trenches. Here he would do his job under-
ground, and as often as not reach the surface
again a limp little form lying at the bottom
of his cage; he never failed us, though "
(Bird Notes and News, vol. viii. p. 26). In
many cases the CANARIES, issued as tests for
the presence of poisonous gas, were made
pets of by our soldiers and placed by them
fn the safest places (Daily Mail, lo.i

23

Utility and Economy of Birds

Hundreds of " enemy " CANARIES were
killed by our shell and gas but those that
were rescued by our troops were, needless
to say, well cared for. A demonstration
of their utility was given to the members
of the Congress of South-Eastern Scientific
Societies on June ist, 1918, when a bird
in a cage was introduced into a chamber
full of poison-gas and became unconscious
before a human being, exposed to the same
conditions, showed any sign of being affected
(Sunday Herald, 2.vi.i8). This war-time
use of CANARIES may have been one of
the reasons which caused a CANARY boom
in America, where these birds are very
popular. Although double the pre-war price
would willingly have been paid, the birds
were unprocurable ; German-bred birds being
out of the market, and the majority of
the Norwich fanciers having joined the
colours, the demand proved far greater than
the supply (Daily Mail, 8.v.i6).

It is horriblet othink of CANARIES being stifled
by poison-gas, and the following verses "To
a CANARY in a Trench " may here be quoted :

24

Birds as Messengers

Bon jour, merry bird 1
Your bonny life we ask,

That we may know

When gases blow,
And spring to don a mask.
We would that we might mask you too,
So beautiful, so fair.

You sing to-day

Your roundelay,
And love is everywhere !

Bon soir, merry bird !

In war you've played your part —

Nor knew that death

Was in the breath
That stilled your little heart.
Your perch swings idly in your cage —
Unscathed we march along.

So may we learn,

If fortune turn,
To greet death with a song !

(Life : 14. xi. 18, p. 700).

It is consoling to learn that CANARIES were
also used in ambulance trains to cheer our
wounded soldiers with their sweet song (Sport-
ing and Dramatic News, 8.vi.i8).

SEA-GULLS on more than one occasion
betrayed the presence of submarines and
floating mines to anxious mariners. A French
writer, M. Louis Rousseau, claimed them as

25

Utility and Economy of Birds

" one of our most precious auxiliaries, who
had at all times indicated to our fishermen
the presence of shoals of fish, and who, when
our boats and their crews were mobilised and
fished for mines and submarines, imitated
them and continued their service of intelli-
gence " (Bulletin de la S.F.P.O., Juin 1918).
A pilot reported that while in the Channel
on January 5th, 1918,! he noticed some SEA-
GULLS sitting upon a floating object. Upon
closer investigation he saw it was a mine with
five prongs. On top of each prong was
perched a SEA-GULL. He just had time to
alter the ship's course slightly and thus
averted disaster (Observer, 6.1 .18). A some-
what similar story is told by an officer on
board a ship in the North Sea : ''While watch-
ing a PUFFIN through my glasses, I suddenly
saw the periscope of a German submarine
appear above the water close to the bird.
We altered our course just in time to evade,
by a few feet, two torpedoes which were fired
at us. We tried to ram the submarine, but
unfortunately she dived too quickly " (Ibis,
1917, p. 34), The fact that SEA-GULLS were

26

Birds as Messengers

attracted by the periscope of an enemy sub-
marine aroused the ingenuity of no less a
savant than "Samuel Pepys, Junr.," who
suggested that "it be ordered in the fleet
that all SEA-GULLS around our ships be fed
daily with herrings from an underwater boat ;
so whenever they shall observe any such
boat, they shall assuredly flock over it for
herrings, and so its presence be made known,
being that these birds can see to a great
depth below the water and so keen of sight
as to discern a sprat five fathoms below the
surface " (Truth, 25.^.1915).

The suggestion, made by Punch, that
PARROTS should be used for propaganda
work both in this country and in Germany,
the propagandists abroad to be crossed with
British HOMING PIGEONS (Punch, 27.iii.i8),
only aimed at the humorous. A scheme was,
however, sent in all seriousness to the War
Inventions Board by a man who had noticed
that birds peck mortar. He suggested that
a flock of CORMORANTS should be trained to
feed by putting their food in lines against a
wall, so that they might associate these lines

27

Utility and Economy of Birds

with their food ; they should then be taken
to Essen, where they would attack the chim-
neys at Krupp's works with such vigour as
to destroy them (Daily^Mail, I3.i.i6).

28

2— BIRDS AS CROP PROTECTORS

IT is the considered opinion of the greatest
modern ornithologists that insectivorous
birds are man's best friends, since they
have been proved to be protectors of his
crops. But, with the crying need for the
maximum production of food, an outcry
against birds in general was only to be ex-
pected. Would that the detractors of the
birds' characters had been silenced for ever !
But though this pious wish is far from being
fulfilled, it is satisfactory to be able to record
that, as the War continued, the inimical
attitude of the agriculturist towards birds
showed signs of abatement. Economic ornith-
ology has not yet been sufficiently studied
in Great Britain, but the laborious work of
such investigators as Messrs. W. E. Collinge,
C. F. Archibald, J. Gilmour, F. V. Theobald,
H. S. Leigh, R. T. Gunther, and Miss Laura
Florence all goes to prove the valuable assist-

29

Utility and Economy of Birds

ance rendered by birds to forestry and agri-
culture, to say nothing of the dietetic value
of Game-birds and Wildfowl. That the farmers
and their " expert advisers " were, however,
slow to regard the birds as the protectors of
their crops, the following notes will show.

One of the features of the War was the
breaking-up of thousands of acres of pasture
land. This innovation revealed the presence
of a corresponding amount of insect pests
such as wire- worms; yet, oblivious of the fact
that insect plagues can be dealt with effec-
tually only by birds, their indiscriminate
destruction was recommended by the "expert
advisers " of the Board of Agriculture. In
view of the fact that insectivorous birds may
also eat grain, these wiseacres issued a ban
against all birds, regardless of the acknow-
ledged fact that, though birds may take a
proportion of fruit or grain at harvest time,
they more than justify their existence by the
quantity of injurious insects they consume at
other seasons of the year. Any thoughtful
mind must be impressed by the wisdom of
our Wild Birds Protection Acts, which pro-

30

Birds as Crop Protectors

tect all birds during the breeding season,
a period throughout which the young of
even such a harmful species as the HOUSE
SPARROW is insectivorous. It must surely
be the height of folly to kill birds at
the very time when they are doing good,
though it is arguable that it should be legal
to kill a bird which is caught in the act of
doing harm. No insect eater should be the
object of a crusade merely because for a week
or two he takes toll of the fruit. It is not
just, and, more than that, it is bad policy.
The attitude of him who would kill a bird for
taking sixpenny worth of fruit after saving
pounds' worth of produce from the insects
is obviously ridiculous (Sheffield Daily Tele-
graph, 3.vii.i8).

The schoolboy who translated the old
adage Medio tutissimus ibis by In the midst of
them was the Ibis, jolly safe! was certainly
not scholarly, but his translation would be
apt were it not for the avariciousness of the
collector of rare British birds ; to my mind
our Wild Birds Protection Acts carry out its
sound principle both from the bird-lover's

Utility and Economy of Birds

and from the farmer's point of view. So
far from authorising the destruction of birds
in wartime, the authorities should have
given them the benefit of extra protection.
Thousands of acres of common and other
open land, where LARKS and many other in-
sectivorous birds were wont to live, were
turned into camps and parade-grounds only
to be trodden down by men and horses.
Thousands of acres of wood and coppice were
felled throughout the country in the attempt
to meet the demand for timber. These re-
sults of the war have had a far-reaching effect
on our bird population. A French ornitholo-
gist has stated that France, when the Germans
have ceased to harry the land, will have
pressing need of all her bird-life to fight the
insect invaders and ravagers of her fields ;
in our own country the need is the same,
though less tragically important (Bird Notes
and News, vol. vi. p. 92).

Perhaps the greatest outburst against birds
in general was early in 1917, when it was
urged that " shoot the birds "• should be the
clarion cry (Daily Mail, 4 ,i .17). The f orma-

32

> &

J

J

"S
J
I

J

I

••* vd

w

j3

Birds as Crop Protectors

tion of "SPARROW CLUBS " throughout the
country was recommended, and raids against
the BULLFINCH, HAWFINCH, JAY, BLACK-
BIRD, THRUSH, and STARLING were widely
advocated. As a set-off to the Wild Birds
Protection Act it was suggested that there
should be a " Tame Humans Preservation
Act " (Daily Mail, 10.1.17). To. this outcry
against all birds Sir Herbert Maxwell pub-
lished a well-reasoned answer, drawing at-
tention to the number of destructive insects
consumed by birds, and pointing out that
the indiscriminate destruction of small birds
would result in as much harm as good (Times,
31.1.17). The SEA-GULL was accused not
only of taking trout but also of taking valu-
able manure in collaboration with the ROOK
(Glasgow Herald, I5.iii.i7); and it was an-
nounced in May 1917 that soldiers training
in England were to go on official birds-nest-
ing expeditions, and that " as the season is
well advanced troops are to go birds-nesting
at once " (Daily Mail, 26.V.I7). The Board
of Agriculture, besides acquiescing in this
persecution of birds, advised War Agricul-
D 33

Utility and Economy of Birds

tural Committees to destroy ROOKERIES,
extended the time for burning gorse and
heather, and, finally, by reading into the law
what was obviously never intended to be
there, and by stretching language beyond its
natural meaning, proclaimed that SPARROWS
were " vermin " and might therefore be de-
stroyed by poison on the land, in contravention
of the Protection of Animals Act (Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds: Annual
Report, 1918).

I have been careful to quote from my book
of newspaper cuttings chronologically, and it
is therefore remarkable to find that the next
entry reads : " Crops eaten by Caterpillars
— A seven-mile front — A devastating plague
of caterpillars reported from the Peak dis-
trict of Derbyshire " (Daily Mail, 13^.17).
Three days later the newspapers announced :
" The Caterpillars' new push — Stripping the
Westmorland fells" (Daily Mail, i6.vi.i7).
Inspectors of the Board of Agriculture, in-
vestigating the cause of the plague, attri-
buted this extraordinary abundance of the
caterpillars of the Antler-moth mainly to the

34

Birds as Crop Protectors

reduced burning of grouse moors and upland
pastures, and also to the absence of PLOVERS
and STARLINGS (Dumfries and Galloway Stan-
dard, 2O.vi.i7, and Royal Society for the Pro-
tection of Birds : Annual Report, 1918). A
similar plague of caterpillars spoilt the early
promise of a great fruit crop in France (Daily
Mail, 22.vi.i7).

There can be no doubt that popular feeling
was against birds in general; moreover
throughout 1917 there was a lamentable
scarcity of the smaller species, due mainly
to the abnormally severe weather conditions
experienced in the earlier months of the year.
This scarcity was deplored by the bird-lover,
but should also have been regretted by the
agriculturist, who should have realised that
insects, which it is all but impossible to keep
in check by human means, are effectually
controlled in their earlier stages by birds.

The misdeeds of birds are much more mani-
fest than the benefits they confer upon us,
and, sure enough, with the approach of spring
in 1918, the old outcry against them was
reiterated in the newspapers. It was asked,

35

Utility and Economy of Birds

' ' Will some one recommend a reliable SPARROW
trap, and so become a public benefactor ? "
(Daily Mail, 7.iii.i8), and war against STAR-
LINGS and BULLFINCHES and the institution
of SPARROW CLUBS were again demanded.
These extravagant outbursts seem, however,
to have given way to saner counsels to the
effect that any relaxation of the law restrain-
ing the killing of insect-eating birds would in-
evitably result in diminished grain, vegetable,
and fruit crops, and the birds finally recom-
mended to be kept in check, but not entirely
exterminated, were SPARROWS and WOOD-
PIGEONS (Daily Mail, 4.iii.i8). A plague
of caterpillars was prophesied early in the
year, and the indiscriminate slaughter of
small birds and the taking of their eggs was
therefore deprecated, especially as the severe
winter of 1916-17 had almost destroyed the
smaller insect-eating birds by the continuous
frost and snow (Times, 2i.iii.i8). An ad-
mirable letter, entitled " Plea for Protection/'
signed by fourteen representative ornitholo-
gists, appeared in The Times of April 24th,
1918, pointing out that the great majority

36

Birds as Crop Protectors

of wild birds are beneficial to man, that the
insect-eating and vermin-eating species in
particular are invaluable to him in field and
garden, and that the destruction of birds and
eggs, even of those species deemed to be in-
jurious, should not be permitted, since useful
ones inevitably suffered also (Times, 24 . iv . 18).
In April 1918 came the startling news that
large numbers of MAGPIES, believed to have
been driven across the Channel by the
fighting in France, had invaded Romney
Marsh in Kent and were attacking and killing
breeding ewes (Globe, io.iv.i8) — a statement,
I venture to think, which must be taken
cum grano salis.

In June 1918 the prophecy as to cater-
pillars, made earlier in the year, was fulfilled.
The plague was widespread, but was par-
ticularly severe in the south and east of
England and in Derbyshire and Westmor-
land, where the caterpillars of the Antler-
moth were rampant. Even houses were said
to be invaded, and it was suggested that
" POULTRY should be turned loose in quan-
tities to consume this valuable food/1 In his

37

Utility and Economy of Birds

hour of agony one sufferer wrote : " We do
not want to see in this country devastated
districts, such as one sees abroad, through
the caterpillars being allowed to go un-
checked and through the destruction of birds
for sport and profit " (Daily Mail, n-i6.vi.i8).
Though regretting the means, I cannot but
rejoice at the end which brought these sinners,
who would not recognise the utility of birds,
to repentance.

I have purposely omitted the consideration
of the status of the WOOD-PIGEON, a bird
which may very properly be regarded as
most mischievous in respect to agriculture,
but which, I must here state in common fair-
ness, was reported as taking toll of the
caterpillars in June 1918. Its food- value is
certainly considerable and might almost have
entitled it to have been considered in the fol-
lowing section, but, notwithstanding the little
good it may do, it undoubtedly costs more
in the damage it does when alive than it
realises when killed and put on the market.
During the period under review battues were
organised in several counties and large num-

38

Birds as Crop Protectors

bers were shot, but it must always be remem-
bered that these battues only take a toll of
the immigrants who come to this country in
autumn from the Continent, and that the
definite extermination of the WOOD-PIGEON
as a British bird is therefore a matter entirely
out of our control.

There is no doubt that, throughout the
War, the energy of the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds did much to prevent the
ruthless and senseless extermination in this
country of our feathered friends, who deserve
their name not from a feeling of sentiment
but from a grateful sense of their utility.
Not only did the Society carry on a vigorous
campaign in the columns of the newspapers,
but it also issued a pamphlet setting out the
provisions of our Wild Birds Protection Acts,
printed in English, French, and Flemish, for
the guidance of the numerous Belgian refugees
in this country, who, it was thought, might
be expected to kill birds for the pot (Bird
Notes and News, vol. vi. p. 78). The Society
also circulated from time to time carefully
prepared leaflets pointing out the economic

39

Utility and Economy of Birds

value to agriculture of bird-life, of which
Birds, Insects, and Crops, issued in March 1917,
may be noticed as but one example.

Mention may also be made of the treaty,
the first instrument of its kind, made be-
tween the United States and Canada in 1917,
although its conclusion was due not to the
War but to the enlightened view of birds
prevailing across the Atlantic. This treaty
protected more than a thousand valuable
species of birds from the Gulf of Mexico to
the North Pole. It also provided that any
bird important to agriculture as a destroyer
of insects should not be killed at any time.
This, it was reckoned, would save American
farmers millions of dollars lost through the
crop depredations of insects (Globe, 12 .iii .18).
Dr. Gordon Hewitt, referring to this treaty,
gave it as his opinion that "the protection
of insectivorous birds is at all times a neces-
sary measure in crop production. At the
present time, when the production of food
crops is not only a national but a world
necessity, the protection of such birds should
be regarded as a measure of national defence "

40

Birds as Crop Protectors

(Conservation of Wild Life in Canada, 1917).
A handsome bird-fountain was dedicated in
the Los Angeles public park to "the little
warriors of the air who are fighting for us,
. . . who are protecting our wheat-crops for
the boys in France, who are guarding the
cotton crop which is used for surgical pur-
poses and for gun- wads, who save our forests
from which we build our great ships and air-
planes. The birds have been officially re-
cognised by the United States Government
for their valuable aid to horticulture and
agriculture. This fountain is placed here as
our personal recognition of their value "
(Bird Notes and News, vol. viii. 1918, p. 19).

3— BIRDS AS FOOD

THE majority of edible birds, being both
insectivorous and graminivorous, are
both beneficial and harmful to agri-
culture, and are thus rather difficult to dis-
cuss from the utilitarian point of view. Per-
sonally I am of the opinion that, setting aside
their important value as human food, the
edible birds of Great Britain are either harm-
less, or do more good to the farmer than
harm. I have, however, discussed the ques-
tion of the utility of birds in the preceding
chapter, and I do not propose to fight the
battles here of the various species which have
been the subjects of attack from time to
time ; I will simply record, more or less
chronologically, the enactments which affected
those birds which may be regarded as form-
ing part of our regular food-supply.

In Germany the question of the value of
GAME as food was immediately realised, and

42

Birds as Food

in January 1915 the Imperial authorities
decreed a prolongation of the open season
for PHEASANTS. Ordinarily the season closed
on February ist ; the new regulation extended
the date to March ist. The same decree
abolished, for the duration of the War, cer-
tain restrictions on the sale and shipment of
GAME shot in the province of Hanover, which
abounds in well-stocked preserves, including
several of the Kaiser's favourite shooting-
boxes (Daily Mail, 11.1.15). The Grand
Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz gave orders
that GAME in his forests was no longer to be
exported but that it was to be reserved
exclusively for sale within the Duchy or
given to hospitals, and orders were issued to
shoot more GAME than usual (Kolnische
Zeitung, 8.x. 15). In May 1916 the German
Government ordered CROWS, SPARROWS, STAR-
LINGS, STORKS and ROOKS to be killed for
food (Westminster Gazette, I3.v.i6), and the
retail price of a ROOK at this period is alleged
to have varied from is. to is. 6d. (Daily Mail,

As regards Great Britain : a Bill was
43

Utility and Economy of Birds

introduced into Parliament in 1915 to allow
of GROUSE being shot on August 5th instead
of the 1 2th, but, after being passed by the
House of Lords, it was thrown out by the
Commons amid cries of " We want to shoot
Germans, not GROUSE. " The season 1915-16
proved exceptionally good for GROUSE. At
Abbeystead, in Lancashire, the record bag
of 2,929 was obtained by eight guns on
August 1 2th, and reports from all parts of
the country testified to the superabundance of
GROUSE. But so great was the difficulty in
getting drivers, and even guns to shoot, that
I know of one celebrated Yorkshire moor,
usually let for £4,000 per annum, for which
but £100 was offered, and the would-be
tenant afterwards heard that had he offered
£150 he would probably have got it. In
Westmorland over one hundred boy scouts
were employed as GROUSE drivers in August
1915. The prices for GAME in Leadenhall
Market were nothing unusual. In November
1915 it was asked, in the House of Commons,
whether, in view of the reduction in the
amount of cereals to be raised in the United

44

Birds as Food

Kingdom next year, it would be thought
advisable to levy a tax of 55. per head on
all hand-reared PHEASANTS, or, alternatively,
£100 upon every person preserving BIRDS or
buying eggs for this purpose (Pall Mall
Gazette, i6.xi.is).

Maintaining the chronological arrangement
of my notes, I have next to note that in
March 1916 it was stated that many dozens
of BLACKBIRDS, THRUSHES, MISSEL-THRUSHES,
LARKS, and REDWINGS, alleged to have come
from Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and other parts
of England, were being exposed for sale as
food in one of the West-end shops of London
(Times, 3i.iii.i6). The trivial proposition
that small birds, the guardians of our crops,
should themselves be utilised as "food for the
people " could only have been made by the
blundering of ignorance. The following ironic
reproach is so neat that it merits repetition :

I saw with open eyes
Singing-birds sweet
Sold in the shops
For the people to eat :
Sold in the shops of
Stupidity Street.

45

Utility and Economy of Birds

I saw in a vision
The worm in the wheat,
And in the shops nothing
For the people to eat :
Nothing for sale in
Stupidity Street.

(Royal Society for the Protection of Birds :
Annual Report, 1918.) A question, asked in
the House of Commons, elicited the reply
from the Home Secretary that the Metropoli-
tan Police found no reason to think that,
except in rare cases, SONG-BIRDS were being
sold for food in contravention of the law ;
suitable action had been taken, and he
sincerely trusted that the barbarous practice
of killing SONG-BIRDS for food would not take
root in this country (Hansard, H. of C. vol.
81, No. 32, Wed. ig.iv.i6).

In June 1916 there was published in a
daily newspaper the portrait of "the first
woman gamekeeper " (Daily Mail, i.vi.i6);
but as the War went on women took over
more and more men's work, and even "lady
rabbit catchers " became quite fashionable!
The absence of men led to much less shooting
both of birds and of beasts, and not a few deer

Birds as Food

forests, which formerly had been sheep
ground but had been given up to deer when
"stalking" was at its height, now reverted
to their original state. Great Britain at war
commended itself as a background to an
American short-story writer, who wrote in
1916: "A GOLDEN PHEASANT came calmly
by, for this year the twelfth of August signi-
fied a far different shooting and the coverts
were undisturbed " (Globe, 4.viii . 16).

It was only to be expected that WILD-
FOWLING by professional puntsmen and
others should have been much out of favour
with the naval authorities on the east coast,
and restrictions, almost prohibitive in their
severity, were issued under the Defence of
the Realm Regulations (Daily Mail, io.ix.i6);
As a result, WATERFOWL became much tamer ;
but although they seemed to realise that
aeroplanes, patrol boats, gunfire, etc., were
harmless to them, they still seemed to recog-
nise a gunning punt as hostile (Field, 30 .iii .18,
p. 447). Another effect of the Admiralty's
restrictions was observed off East Lothian,
where some islands, on which for many years

47

Utility and Economy of Birds

a pair of PEREGRINES had tried to breed,
were put out of bounds, to the advantage of
the PEREGRINES, which are believed to have
nested, and also of a small colony of ROCK-
DOVES, which before had been annually
threatened with extinction (Country Life, 2.
ix.i6). Towards the end of 1916 suggestions
appeared in the newspapers that, as there
were no shooting parties, soldiers should enter
upon preserves and estates and kill a proper
amount of GAME, paying the owners a fair
price per head for the GAME shot ; it was
further suggested that the GAME would be
very useful for food and that the shooting
would be most excellent practice for the
New Armies (Daily Mail, i8.xi.i6). Other
letters appeared about this time suggesting
all sorts of birds as valuable additions to our
menu, young CORMORANTS, HERRING-GULLS,
and GANNETS, especially the last, being
recommended (Daily Mail, 19.11.17). These
letters were devoured with avidity by our
enemies, and the Berlin Zeitung am Mittag,
quoting the " London newspapers," literally
' ' gulled' ' its readers into the belief that we were

48

PLATE 8. — " CANARIES were used ... in ambulance trains to cheer our
wounded soldiers with their sweet song " (p. 25).

PLATE 9. — " The first woman gamekeeper " (p. 46).

48]

PLATE 10.—" A wounded soldier . . . feeding the GULLS" (p. 69).

[49

Birds as Food

starving : " The English may print as many
braggart statistics as they choose about the
failure of the German U-boats, but a glance
at the English newspapers reveals a far
different situation,f or in their editorial columns
the prevailing terror of starvation is palpably
evident. Unrest, discontent, and anxiety
are making themselves felt more acutely day
by day, and already the most unlikely articles
are being seized on with avidity for food.
In London they are now eating smoked SEA-
GULLS, not only the home product, but also
great quantities that are being imported from
New Zealand ready cured. Loud and bitter
are the complaints about the greasy flavour
of these birds, but the newspapers are
rising to the occasion and filling column on
column with the most impossible recipes to
show the wretched islanders that SEA-GULL
may be made as tasty as TURKEY OR GOOSE "
(Daily Express, 28.iii.i7).

Early in 1917 orders were issued forbid-
ding the rearing of PHEASANTS and the feed-
ing of GAME on any grains or any other
products required for food or feeding stuffs ;
E 49

Utility and Economy of Birds

owners of PHEASANTS were expected to kill
off their birds as far as possible before the
end of the season, so that they might not
live to feed on the growing grain of the
following harvest (Daily Mail, 12.1.17). ^n
spite of these restrictions it is remarkable
that, some months later, not a few persons
were prosecuted for feeding hand-reared
PHEASANTS on corn (Globe, 4.v.i7). On
February I3th, 1917, it was stated officially
in Parliament that it had been decided that
occupiers of agricultural land should have a
concurrent right of killing PHEASANTS on the
same lines that they had in respect of ground
game, without any limitation as regards a
close time for breeding (Daily Mail, 14. ii .17).
Thereupon ensued a literary warfare in the
newspapers as to whether the PHEASANT was
more useful to the farmer as an insect killer
than harmful as a grain eater. On February
23rd and March I3th and 3Oth were issued
orders, known as "The Destruction of PHEA-
SANTS Orders," under the Defence of the Realm
Regulations, that the Board of Agriculture
might (with a view to preventing or reducing

50

Birds as Food

injury to crops, trees, or pasturage by GAME,
hares, or rabbits, or to secure for the food-
supply of the country any migratory or wild
bird) depute any body to take such action as
might be necessary, provide for the disposing
of birds, hares, or rabbits thus killed, and
authorise the killing and selling of GAME at
any time which might otherwise be illegal.
Any one authorised to kill or dispose of GAME
was exempted from having a game licence,
but was granted no exemption from the Gun
Licence Act. The season for killing PHEA-
SANTS, but for no other GAME, was extended
to March 3ist in England and Wales, and for
selling up to April isth.

With a view to increasing food production,
an Order in Council was made on March soth,
1917, legalising any occupier of land in
Scotland to "make muirburn," with certain
restrictions as to damage, at any time be-
tween October ist and April 30th. This
order might more reasonably have been re-
stricted to March 3ist, so as not to interfere
with the GROUSE when nesting, for, after all,
the GROUSE is a valuable bird. The Commis-

51

Utility and Economy of Birds

sion which investigated GROUSE disease, in
1905-11, estimated that the gross rental of
GROUSE moors in England and Scotland
amounted to no less than £1,270,000 annually.
It must here be noticed that the proposal to
allow of GROUSE being shot on August 5th,
which had been so ignominiously turned
down in the House of Commons in 1915, was
now effected, as regards England and Wales,
by an enactment, under the Defence of the
Realm Regulations, authorising the killing
of GROUSE on August 6th. It may also be
observed that GROUSE disease, probably due
to overstocking in 1915-16 and 1916-17,
was rampant on many moors, particularly in
Scotland. At least one County Executive
Committee in Scotland availed itself of the
powers conferred on it in connection with
food production, by taking possession of a
large GROUSE moor and appointing the tenant
on the estate as their agent to secure the
efficient grazing of the moor by sheep (Daily
Mail, i8.vi.i7). Feeling ran high in Scot-
land that the PHEASANT should not receive
the same treatment as across the Border,

52

Birds as Food

and it was urged that agricultural tenants
should have the right to kill PHEASANTS
destroying crops, and that this right should
be extended to include GROUSE and BLACK-
GAME (Dumfries and Galloway Standard,
I3.ii.i8).

During the season 1917-18 the shortage of
materials with which to make sporting am-
munition proved a real drawback to shooting
for the pot, and it was even suggested that
owners of shootings, as a consequence, should
be remitted the rates they paid on the sport-
ing value of their properties (Daily Mail,
10 . viii .17). Cartridges, which before the war
were sold for 8s. 4^. per 100, found eager
buyers, when indeed they could be got, at
2os. to 255. per 100. The season proved a
most prolific one for wild PHEASANTS, and
large bags were made throughout the country.
It was remarked that although these wild
birds did not fly so uniformly high, they flew
far more cunningly, and were much more
wary, than the hand-reared birds of peace-
time. About Christmas, when the price of
all game and poultry was at a premium,

53

Utility and Economy of Birds

PHEASANTS were fetching as high as a guinea
apiece in the retail shops.

In March 1918 the Board of Agriculture
for Scotland authorised WILD GEESE to be
killed and sold up to the 3ist of the month
in many counties : by no means a bad war
measure, but one which would hardly find
favour with the bird-lover in time of peace
(Dumfries and Galloway Standard, g.iii.iS).
On March 27th, 1918, the Ministry of Food
outlined a scheme for obtaining as large a
supply as possible of GAME, WILDFOWL, and
rabbits during the ensuing season (Globe,
27.iii.i8). Under the rationing restrictions,
rules were laid down as regards the amount
of GAME or POULTRY which might be eaten.
Special concessions were, in April 1918, made
to those persons, including their families and
dependents, who reared POULTRY. In the
case of GAME, the host, also his gamekeepers
and guests, were entitled to take the GAME
at a reduced rate of coupons (Daily Mail,
Ii.iv.i8). As the result of a conference
with the salesmen at Smithfield and
Leadenhall Markets, the Food Controller, in

54

Birds as Food

May, fixed the prices of GAME and POULTRY
as follows : old HENS and young CHICKENS,
25. 4d. per Ib. ; old and young TURKEYS,
2s. 2d. ; GOSLINGS and GEESE, is. 4^. ;
DUCKLINGS and DUCKS, is. 6d. ; cock PHEA-
SANTS, 55. Sd. each ; hen PHEASANTS, 55. zd. ;
old PARTRIDGES, is. gd., young, 35. 6d. ;
old GROUSE, 2s. 6d., young, 55. (The Times,
25.v.i8). The Ministry of Food, in July,
issued regulations regarding the disposal of
GAME. The owner, or occupier, of a shoot-
ing was held responsible for detaching the
appropriate number of coupons from his food
card, as a " self-supplier/' for GAME consumed
by his household, and it was made incum-
bent on any purchaser or recipient of GAME
to do the same, but under a different cate-
gory, as a receiver of " direct supplies." The
scale established for a "self-supplier " was :
PHEASANT, WILD DUCK, GUINEA-FOWL,
CAPERCAILZIE, one coupon for each two birds ;
GROUSE, PARTRIDGE, BLACKGAME, WIGEON,
one coupon for each four birds ; TEAL,
PTARMIGAN, WOODCOCK, one coupon for each
eight birds ; PLOVER, one coupon for each

55

Utility and Economy of Birds

twelve birds ; and QUAIL and SNIPE, one
coupon for each sixteen birds. The scale for
those in receipt of " direct supplies " was
halved : thus, PHEASANT, WILD DUCK, etc.,
one coupon for each bird ; PLOVER, one
coupon for each six birds, and so on (The
Field, 3.viii.i8, p. 103).

The inclusion of GUINEA-FOWL among
GAME BIRDS provoked humorous queries as
to where the best shooting might be obtained,
on what date the shooting opened, and
whether it was legitimate to shoot them on
the ground. It was even suggested that the
Ministry of Food had been rearing GUINEA-
FOWL with a view to increasing the food-
supply of the country (The Times, S.viii.iS).
Shortly afterwards a ludicrous statement
appeared in print that WILD DUCK, PLOVER,
SNIPE, and WATER-HENS were being bred at
the Edmonton District Council's sewage farm
(Evening News, ig.viii.iS).

In July 1918 the Board of Agriculture
authorised the killing of GROUSE and BLACK-
GAME in England and Wales as from Au-
gust 6th, and the Board of Agriculture of

56

Birds as Food

Scotland made similar provision for that
country. In Ireland, however, August I2th
was still adhered to as the opening day for
GROUSE shooting. On July 22nd a deputa-
tion from the National Farmers' Union of
Scotland was received by the Board of Agri-
culture in Edinburgh on the subject of
damage done to crops by winged GAME, and,
in view of the approaching harvest, it was
promised that the matter should receive
immediate attention (Dumfries and Galloway
Standard, 24.vii.i8). It may be noted that
in America the protection of the upland
game-birds was discussed, in New York in
1918, at the fourth National Conference of
the Game Protection Association. A shorter
open season and the provision of sanctuaries
were the outcome of the discussion, which
was prompted by the desire to increase the
food-supply (New York Times, April 1918).
Although this cannot be regarded entirely as
a war measure, it is another demonstration of
the systematic manner in which the economic
value of birds is considered by our American
allies : Utinam sic omnes.

57

Utility and Economy of Birds

The difficulty, experienced in this country
in the previous season, of obtaining sporting
ammunition was minimised by cartridge
dealers being allowed to sell not more than
500 cartridges a fortnight to holders of game-
licences, or 300 cartridges a fortnight to
holders of gun-licences, on the production of
their licences, the price of cartridges being
fixed at a maximum of 20$. per 100. Many
a grouse-moor went a-begging : the shooting
of 900 GROUSE in Peeblesshire was offered at
£100, 600 and 500 GROUSE in Argyllshire were
advertised at £100 and £60 respectively, and
the celebrated Bowes Moor, of 12,000 acres,
once more reverted to being shot over by
' ' ticket-holders ' ' limited in number to twenty-
four (The Field, io.viii.i8). GAME through-
out the country proved to be plentiful on
the whole, though GROUSE and BLACK-GAME
were below the average ; PHEASANTS were as
numerous as in the preceding season, and
PARTRIDGES were in many places more than
usually abundant . The legal period for shoot-
ing GROUSE and BLACK-GAME was extended,
as in 1918, to January 2Oth, 1919.

58

Birds as Food

One of the first indications of the desire
to return to the regimen of pre-war days
was the revocation, in February 1919, of the
PHEASANTS (Rearing) Order, and the Feeding
of Game Order of 1917 (Morning Post, i .ii .19),
so that once more the feeding of game-birds
with cereals, and the hatching and rearing of
PHEASANTS, became legal.

59

4— BIRDS' EGGS AS FOOD

BACON and eggs were, before the War, a
time-honoured dish in many a British
home, but, with the advent of com-
pulsory rationing for man, beast, and FOWL,
both became comparatively scarce visitors
to our breakfast -table. The amount of bacon
per head was scrupulously cut down, and the
difficulty in obtaining food for FOWLS made
eggs most expensive to procure. It is recog-
nised by medical men that eggs are not a
luxury for wounded soldiers, but an item of
diet, always important and in gas cases
essential. Egg collections for the wounded
were made from time to time throughout the
country, a notable effort being that of
May 27th, 1918, when it was stated that the
National Egg Collection had then distributed
over 30,000,000 eg^s to wounded soldiers and
sailors, and required 1,000,000 every week
to meet all demands. In January 1919 it

60

Birds' Eggs as Food

was announced that 41,000,000 eggs, of a
total capital value of £430,619, had been dis-
tributed to base hospitals in France and at
home (Field, 25.1.19).

In March 1917 the value of GULLS' eggs as
food was bruited about, and several questions
on the subject were asked in the House of
Commons. The attendant dangers of taking
the eggs of those species which nest on cliffs
proved insurmountable, and possibly the
difficulty of collection of the eggs of the
BLACK-HEADED GULL made this scheme im-
practicable. Nevertheless the Home Office,
acting under the advice of the Board of Agri-
culture, issued special orders removing pro-
tection, in certain counties, until June 2ist
from the eggs of the GUILLEMOT, RAZORBILL,
PUFFIN, BLACK-HEADED GULL, and other
GULLS. The main difficulty in connection
with the taking the eggs of GULLS and other
sea-fowl was the impossibility of guarantee-
ing that they were fresh ; for it was realised
that if incubated, even in the slightest degree,
the egg would be unsaleable.

The relatively smaller numbers and more
61

Utility and Economy of Birds

scattered nesting-places of such species as
COOTS, MOORHENS, MALLARD, and even scarce
DUCKS prohibited any idea of taking their
eggs on anything like a commercial basis.
We were told that PHEASANTS' eggs were
eaten by the Royal Family, while at Windsor
in 1916, instead of PLOVERS' eggs (Daily «Mail,
8.v.i6), and these latter, being regarded as
absolute luxuries, found but few buyers in
the shops at 8d. instead of the pre-war 2s. 6d.
apiece.

Early in 1918 the newspapers again re-
sounded the cry, urging the collection of SEA-
GULLS', GUILLEMOTS', and PUFFINS' eggs
(Daily Mail, 25.1.18). On February 22nd
the Board of Agriculture for Scotland issued
a circular suggesting the taking of the eggs
of the BLACK-BACKED, LESSER BLACK-
BACKED, HERRING, and COMMON GULLS for
food, but advised that the BLACK-HEADED
GULL, in view of its predominating insec-
tivorous diet, should not be molested. With-
in six weeks, however, the restriction regard-
ing the collection of the eggs of the last-
named species was removed. In May 1918

62

Birds' Eggs as Food

GULLS' eggs, priced " Only 6d. each/' were
on sale in London shops ; but as ordinary
HENS' eggs were offered at 4^. each at the
time it would appear that the supply must
have been so small that they were regarded
as luxuries.

A point which seems to have escaped the
notice of those who advised the taking of
the eggs of game-birds and wild-fowl is
that the food-value of the egg, if left un-
molested to be hatched and reared to maturity,
would, in some sixteen weeks' time, be greatly
in excess of the food-value of the egg itself.

In September 1918 the Ministry of Food,
in order that the ordinary channels of dis-
tribution of FOWLS' eggs should not be inter-
fered with beyond ensuring that big towns
in industrial districts should have their fair
proportion, instituted three grades of eggs :
(i) Eggs other than imported and preserved
eggs weighing over i£ oz. ; (2) imported and
preserved eggs over i £ oz. ; (3) all eggs less
than that weight. Thus a clean sweep was
made of the traditional trade classification,
which recognised " ninety-nine different vari-

63 '

Utility and Economy of Birds

eties of eggs ranging from new-laid to fresh
Egyptian, pudding, etc." (The Globe, 12 .ix.iS).
A little later the Ministry began to distribute
the large stocks of imported and pickled eggs
which it had acquired, and fixed the shop
price at 4^. each. A new " Order " an-
nounced that in the event of a shortage of
eggs priority in distribution would be given
to hospitals, and stated that the expression
" eggs " meant eggs laid by any bird (Daily
Mail, 2i.ix.i8).

64

II— SUFFERINGS OF BIRDS IN THE
WAR

5— EFFECT OF THE WAR ON BIRDS
IN CAPTIVITY, AND DURING
SEVERE WEATHER

BIRDS in captivity became more and
more difficult to keep as the supply
of cereals, bananas, eggs, bread, etc.,
were restricted as the War went on. Never,
for example, were so many PARROTS freely
offered on loan to the Zoological Society of
London, and never were the offers so system-
atically refused. Incidentally may I say
that it was even more difficult to maintain
the animals, and the more common varieties
were reluctantly put down. The week before
the rationing system came into force in Lon-
don, on February 24th, 1918, the Society's
bull bison was killed and was apportioned
out to the garden's staff. In all the zoo-
logical gardens in Germany and Austria the
animals were reported to have been killed
early in 191 6 to save the cost of their upkeep,

67

Sufferings of Birds

and even those in the famous Tiergarten in
Berlin and the magnificent menagerie at
Schonbrunn were sacrificed. It must, how-
ever, be noted that in May 1918 the Berlin
Zoological Gardens Association was sued for
10,000 marks damages by a landlord whose
block of flats adjoined the Zoo. He claimed
that the menagerie — including both the caged
animals and the Berliners who made too
much noise while eating on the fashionable
Zoo dining-terrace — so disturbed the peace
of the neighbourhood that tenants for his
flats could only be secured with difficulty
(Daily Mail, I7.v.i8).

In the battle-areas pet birds ran no less
risks than their owners. Among the tragedies
of the War must be included the destruction
of the incomparable collection of live birds
at Villers-Bretonnaux, belonging to Lieu-
tenant J. Delacour, which occurred during
the German push towards Amiens in the
earlier part of 1918. The collection com-
prised some 360 birds, representing 141
species, all of which were destroyed (Avicul-
tural Magazine, vol. ix. pp. 269, 305).

68

Effect of Captivity and Severe Weather

The interruption in the fishing industry
seriously affected the GULLS, which depend
so much on the refuse thrown overboard by
the fishermen. They became ravenous, and it
was reported that late in January 1915, when
the German cruiser Bliicher was sunk in the
North Sea, enormous flocks of GULLS were at-
tracted by the dead fish killed by the explosions
incident to the sea fight (Zoologist, 1915, p. 97).

Wild birds, which in days of peace pro-
fited by the crumbs from the rich man's
table, found that even these were cut off
when an economy in bread was enforced by
law. Although, in the earlier stages of the
War, it was no uncommon sight to see a
wounded soldier in his distinctive blue uni-
form feeding the GULLS, yet it became
criminal, as the War dragged on, to indulge
in such acts of charity. On June gth, 1917,
an elderly woman was fined £2 zs. at Woking
for giving bread to wild birds ; she stated that
she had lost her only son in Mesopotamia,
that all she used were the dirty bottom
crusts she could not eat, and that she had fed
the birds for seventy years and would con-

Sufferings of Birds

tinue to do so (Bird Notes and News, vol. vii.
p. 88). A man was fined £2 2s. at Greenwich
on July gth, 1917, for throwing out half a
slice of bread for birds (Daily Mail, 10 .vii .17),
and similar prosecutions were, at this period,
not uncommon. A bird hostel, where sol-
diers' pet birds were received and taken care
of during their owner's absence, was set up
at Brixton by an " old contemptible " (Daily
Mail, i .viii.iS), who must have had a warm
heart both for birds and soldiers. Early in
1919, when the food restrictions were some-
what relaxed, birds fared better, and our
returning soldiers got a very warm welcome
at London Bridge from the PIGEONS. The
birds were so accustomed to sharing the buns
provided for Tommy at Lady Limerick's
buffet that they learnt the arrival times of
the leave trains and gathered round to wel-
come with cupboard love. An eye-witness
writes : " I saw one Tommy receiving kisses
from three PIGEONS at the same time ; one was
on his shoulder, one on his head, and the
third was pecking at the bun he held in his
hand" (Star, 3.1.19).

70

Effect of Captivity and Severe Weather

Although the War accounted for many
changes, it can hardly be accused of affecting
our weather, though there are many persons
who firmly believe that the intense gunfire
often induced rain and caused cold winds.
In south-east England the wetness was
phenomenal during the War (Globe, 24 . vii .18),
and it is certainly remarkable that the
meteorological conditions prevailing in Great
Britain should have been so abnormal, as
the following observations show : 1914 — De-
cember, wettest on record. 1915 — January,
severe floods ; August, extraordinarily fre-
quent thunderstorms, nine within eleven
days ; December, very wet and stormy.
1916 — January, mildest for half a century;
March, severest for fifty-eight years, on 28th
the greatest gale for a century ; August and
September, wettest for thirteen years (Daily
Mail, i6.iv.i7). The winter of 1916-17 was
the coldest experienced in many places for
twenty-two years, and its effect on bird-life
may be summed up in the words of the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle for the year 671: "This
year was the great destruction of birds."

Sufferings of Birds

Other severe winters, fatal to many birds,
were those of 1408, 1838, 1855, 1860, 1878-9,
1880-1, 1890-1, and 1894-5. The first real
cold was not felt till the end of November
1916, and, though January and February 1917
were abnormally cold and wintry, it was not
till March and April that our resident birds,
weakened by the privations of the preceding
months, died wholesale of starvation. In
some localities not a few species entirely dis-
appeared, and in others many species were
brought perilously near extinction. PLOVERS
and WADING-BIRDS were naturally early
victims, many of the former being picked up
as mere skeletons, and quantities of the
smaller insectivorous birds suffered likewise.
Doubtless the winter of 1916-17, which it is
reckoned destroyed three-fourths of the in-
sect-eating wild birds, did much to account
for the dearth of useful birds in the following
early summer (British Birds Magazine, vol.
xi. pp. 266-71, and vol. xii. pp. 26-35).
June 1917 was remarkable for exceptionally
severe thunderstorms, and on the i6th there
occurred the worst within living memory.

72

Effect of Captivity and Severe Weather

August proved abnormally wet, windy, and
cold, but thereafter the weather was not
extraordinary, though early in July 1918
many parts of the country were threatened
with drought . According to the British Rain-
fall Organisation, however, there was, con-
trary to the popular impression, no drought
this summer (Observer, I4.vii.i8). This may
be so theoretically, or according to the
arbitrary rules adopted by the organisation
as to what constitutes a drought, but from
all parts of the country complaints were rife
as to the shortage of rain, and in many parish
churches prayers for rain were offered up.

Birds in London, as the War dragged on,
found many of their sanctuaries invaded by
the presence of soldiers and even desecrated
by the erection of "temporary buildings."
Those of us who have had to live throughout
the year in London must have been struck
by the amount of bird life to be seen in the
metropolis. From my dentist's chair in
Harley Street I once saw a KESTREL hover-
ing, and was assured, when gagged and
bound I tried to point the bird out to him,

73

Sufferings of Birds

that it was "only a momentary pang/'
The STARLINGS circling nightly around Nel-
son's Column, the THRUSHES singing daily
in Belgrave Square, the MALLARD passing
over St. George's Hospital every evening,
were all familiar sights. The War had not,
however, been long begun before many sheets
of water were drained : notably the lake in
St. James's Park, where, not long after, arose
a group of Government buildings appropri-
ately known as " Lake Dwellings." With
the prolongation of the War came the erec-
tion of other Government and Y.M.C.A.
buildings in all available spaces, including
many of the London parks and squares, thus
banishing former denizens, and also migra-
tory visitors, which used to lend so much
interest and beauty to them (Westminster
Gazette, g.iv.iS).

74

6— DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS AT SEA

IN October 1914 were published the first
reports of sea-birds, disabled by oil,
having been washed ashore on the coast
of South Norfolk and North Suffolk (Zoolo-
gist, 1915, p. 96). In 1915 similar occur-
rences were reported off Sussex and Kent in
January ; off Holy Island in January and
February ; off Romney Marsh on June gth
and loth ; off the Isle of May and coast of
Fife on June i6th. From June 2ist to
July ist numbers of sea birds and land birds
were killed by a quantity of crude oil off
St. Andrews, and an observer stated that the
oil stuck to the birds like bird-lime and that
he buried no less than 269 GUILLEMOTS
(Scottish Naturalist, 1917, p. 78). Heavy
mortality among sea birds, from a like cause,
was reported in Largo Bay, from the River
Tay opposite Dundee to Kirkcaldy, on
June 24th ; and off Kingsdown and Dunge-

75

Sufferings of Birds

ness in November, when a KING-EIDER and
hundreds of SCOTERS and GUILLEMOTS
perished ; in some cases the oil is said to
have penetrated the skin to the flesh be-
neath. Doubtless the birds came inland on
account of the irritating effect of the oil, and,
as it floated in a thin layer on the surface of
the sea, it was only when wading ashore in
the more shallow water that their feet became
affected (British Birds Magazine, vol. ix.
pp. 252-3). On January gth and loth, 1916,
sea-birds were found, killed by oil, off Dunge-
ness (British Birds Magazine, vol. iv. pp.
152-3), and in January off Blackpool and
Lytham (torn. cit. p. 256). Investigations
proved that some of these dates synchronised
with the sinking of British oil-ships in the
North Sea, and it is to be hoped that the
others indicated the sinking of German sub-
marines or other oil-using enemy craft. In
one case the sea birds were described as
sitting on the rocks in a very dirty condition,
stained dark brown and practically helpless,
quantities being washed ashore caked with
oil . The beach was covered with little patches

Destruction of Birds at Sea

of oil, and amongst the rocks it was much
thicker, having the appearance of thick
chocolate sauce, and being in some places
six or seven inches deep (Scottish Naturalist,
September 1915, pp. 282-4). The birds, with
their feathers matted with oil, were unable
either to fly or dive, and in the end starved
to death. GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILLS, and PUF-
FINS died in enormous numbers, and EIDER-
DUCKS also suffered (Bristol Times and Mirror,
ig.v.i6). An observer of the November
catastrophe writes that the beach was sticky
and foul, and one day the breakers were
black, the feathers of the GULLS were dis-
coloured, GUILLEMOTS especially suffered and
even died because of the clogging of their
plumage and their consequent inability to
fly ; prawns were uneatable, and even fish
were tainted from the same cause (West-
minster Gazette, S.xi.is). On one occasion a
GREEN PARROT completed the list of dead,
probably a pet washed off some ship (Country
Life, 2.ix.i6).

No such catastrophes were again recorded
till the end of April 1918, when a number of

77

Sufferings of Birds

GUILLEMOTS were found on the beach near
Berwick in a helpless state, their wings and
plumage being covered with oil which pre-
vented their flying or diving, and when ap-
proached they tried to walk away, but were
easily captured (Times, 2g.iv.i8). It is
curious that between these dates there should
be an absence of similar reports ; undoubtedly
many oil-carrying or oil-using craft must have
been sunk in 1916 and 1917, and it can hardly
be supposed that the sea birds had learned
to shun the death-dealing oil, and then forgot
their lesson. Probably there were many un-
observed bird-tragedies on the high-seas.
When an American steamer was wrecked
on the Goodwin Sands in February 1919,
about 1,500 tons of oil escaped into the sea.
So thickly did it collect on the surface that
GULLS became unable to plunge in search of
food. Their heads, beaks, and feathers be-
came covered, and many were washed ashore
in an exhausted condition (Daily Mail,

GULLS were occasionally killed by shell-
fire from our ships when at gun practice at

Destruction of Birds at Sea

sea. The gunfire seemed to attract the
GULLS in hundreds; they would therefore
seem to have realised that quantities of fish
would be killed by the concussion (Bird Notes
and News, vol. vii. p. 106).

79

7— EFFECT OF AIR-RAIDS AND AIR-
CRAFT ON BIRDS

I WILL continue to confine my remarks
to the effect of the War on birds as
regards Great Britain. In a subsequent
chapter I shall deal with observations on
birds in the actual war zones, but I now pro-
pose to record how air-craft, gun-fire, air-
raids, and the like affected birds, particularly
in this country.

That birds should regard an aeroplane,
especially one of the monoplane type, as a
huge FALCON, or other RAPTOR, might be con-
sidered as not only probable but natural, and
there are numerous records of birds being
obviously terrified by them (Scottish Natural-
ist, 1916, pp. 39, 164). GULLS, in the early
days of the War, were sadly put about and
scared by aeroplanes that hovered over the
Breydon flats, but they soon began to pay
no heed to them (Zoologist, 1915, p. 95). On

80

PLATE 12.—" A landscape of shattered trees and the ground so torn up by shells
that there scarcely remained a single blade of grass" (p. 102).

PLATE 13.— "To go up the communication trenches is like a ramble down a country lane

[81

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

some occasions the birds' curiosity seems to
have been aroused rather than their fear,
and a flock of BLACK-HEADED GULLS, in
Perthshire, were seen to pursue three hydro-
planes (Scottish Naturalist, 1916, p, 66). On
the approach of an aeroplane after dark to a
fir wood, it was noticed that the WOOD-
PIGEONS, which had come in to roost, rose in
a mass and fluttered noisily round and round,
PHEASANTS crowed and flew to and fro, and
all the small birds twittered and called. A
WHITETHROAT and a WILLOW WARBLER be-
gan snatches of song and broke off abruptly ;
only a LONG-EARED OWL sat tight and showed
no fear (Bird Notes and News, vol. vi. p. 103).
A bird-lover who lives in Kensington Palace
Green tells me that the birds were very
much alarmed by the earlier raids. SPARROWS
and OWLS became restless about an hour or
thirty minutes beforehand. A GREEN PAR-
ROT shrieked repeatedly. On one occasion a
SPARROW fainted, but, after having been kept
in the house all night, flew away next morn-
ing. A tame PIGEON, which was always
very nervous, sat in its owner's hand in a
G 81

Sufferings of Birds

state of tension with legs and wings stiff.
As the raids became more frequent, however,
the birds seemed to become more accustomed
to them, and their behaviour could no longer
be depended on as a warning of approaching
aircraft. JACKDAWS were observed, in a
French town, to leave their homes in the
steeples and throw themselves upon aero-
planes, clinging to them and attacking them
with their beaks as if to drive away these
gigantic and unknown birds of prey (Bird
Notes and News, vol. vii. p. 105). The fact
that PARROTS were employed, early in the
war, to announce the approach of hostile
aircraft to Paris, has already been recorded
when dealing with birds as messengers.

A friendly rivalry in supplying aeroplanes
was encouraged in our Colonies . The planters
of Ceylon conceived the idea of naming their
gifts after birds, thus their first three contri-
butions were christened " PADDY-BIRD,"
" DEVIL -BIRD/' and " NIGHTJAR " (Daily
Mail, ii.xi.is). Some time later the Par-
liamentary Air Committee suggested that
army aeroplanes should be designated as

82

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

" land birds " and seaplanes as " sea birds "
(Daily Mail, I7.viii.i6). One type of
German machine was known as " TAUBE " —
surely a misnomer !

Among the many ornithological terms
subsequently adopted by our Naval, Military,
and Air Forces may be mentioned the
W.R.E.N.S., to denote the Women's Royal
Naval Service, and the PENGUINS, as a dis-
tinctive name for the women attached to the
Royal Air Force, which force was known as
ROOSTERS (men who could fly) and FLEDGE-
LINGS (men who were learning). No term was,
however, more apt than that of KIWI to
denote the Royal Air Force staff officer whose
terrestrial duties rendered him incapable of
flight. These are but examples of avian
nomenclature as applied to our Forces, and
will suffice as typical of their ingenious adop-
tion.

The formation of aerodromes in various
parts of the country had but little effect on
the bird population in their vicinity. PAR-
TRIDGES haunted the precincts of more than
one of our largest airship sheds, and, in spite

83

Sufferings of Birds

of the almost incessant noise associated with
these establishments, the birds in general did
not seem to avoid them. It was, however,
recorded that two large ancient ROOKERIES,
one about a quarter and the other half a mile
away, were deserted in 1915 on account of a
field being used habitually for the descent of
aeroplanes (Observer, s.ix.is).

Sound-waves of great explosions have been
found to travel long distances from the centre
of the disturbance. When the Silvertown
munitions factory exploded in East London
on January igth, 1917, it was heard 128 miles
away (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxviii.
p. 115), and other great explosions have been
distinguished at distances varying from 90
to 186 miles (Nature, 1917, p. 439). A limited
number of observations tend to show that
throughout a large part of the area over
which the sound-waves are audible, birds are
affected by the disturbance. The immediate
cause of their disquiet is unknown, but it is
supposed to be due either to actual percep-
tion of the sound of explosions or to shock
caused by air-wave concussion (Scottish

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

Naturalist, 1917, p. 140). The Zeppelin raids,
a feature of the War early in 1915, were nearly
always heralded in this country by the crow-
ing of PHEASANTS, and the sensitiveness of
this species to distant sounds was frequently
a subject of comment. There seems no
reason to suppose that PHEASANTS have
keener powers of hearing than men ; it
appears more probable that these birds are
alarmed by the sudden quivering of the trees,
on which they happen to be perched, at the
time of an explosion (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin.,
vol. xxxviii. p. 125). It was said that when
PHEASANTS began to talk the airman got
ready to fly and the anti-aircraft gunner
turned out. The crowing of PHEASANTS
often preceded by fifteen minutes to half an
hour the approach of hostile aircraft (Daily
Mail, i.ii.iS). During the first Zeppelin
raid in January 1915, PHEASANTS at Thet-
ford and Bury St. Edmunds, thirty-five to
forty miles from the area over which the
Zeppelins flew, shrieked themselves hoarse
(Daily Mail, i.ii.iS). In one of the early
battles in the North Sea, PHEASANTS as far

85

Sufferings of Birds

west as Cumberland were recorded as having
manifested an uncanny knowledge of some
unusual atmospheric disturbance (Globe,
26.vi.i6). Gamekeepers on the east coast
used to say that they always knew when
enemy raids had commenced, " for the PHEA-
SANTS call us day and night" (Globe, 28 .ix .17).
On March 7th, 1918, about 10.30 p.m., PHEA-
SANTS near Chichester crowed loudly ; pos-
sibly the excitement, so to speak, passed
along from the north-east of Kent from birds
which heard the approaching Gothas (Globe,
I2.iii.i8). A pair of TAWNY OWLS, in the
outskirts of London, were credited with being
able to detect the presence of Zeppelins when
many miles away ; on their approach they
appeared to be very angry and nervous, fly-
ing from bough to bough (Daily Mail,
n.x.i6). PEACOCKS are said to have been
the first birds to detect the air-raid of
May igth, 1918 (Daily Chronicle, 2i.v.i8).

An observer of an air-raid on the south-
east coast on May 20th, 1916, was awakened
just before 2 a.m. by the distant approach of
sea-planes. NIGHTINGALES were singing

86

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

lustily, and it was not until the aircraft were
right over head that they ceased, not to com-
mence their song again till about 2.30 a.m.,
when the whirring of the seaplanes had faded
into a distant hum. The NIGHTINGALES'
reiterated song seemed like a choral defiance
to the Huns and was swelled by countless
other little British songsters, together with a
CUCKOO, who added a jeering call to the re-
treating enemy alien who so closely resembled
that parasitic avian intruder into homes not
his own(0bserver, 28.v.i6). Air-craft, how-
ever, do not seem, on the whole, to have had
much effect on birds, and SKYLARKS have
often been seen singing unconcernedly around
aeroplanes and airships in the sky. Mr.
Charles Dixon, writing of the daylight raid
on London on July 7th, 1917, when a fleet
of twenty " Taubes " appeared like magic
in a sun-bathed sky, states that the effect
on bird life was practically nil. Although
many German machines passed over him and
gun fire was incessant for nearly two hours,
he noticed that THRUSHES were singing on
and off throughout the raid period, while

87

Sufferings of Birds

SPARROWS were quite unconcernedly hopping
about the roads not a hundred yards from
where shrapnel was bursting, and PIGEONS
and STARLINGS were equally undisturbed.
As regards raids by night, the same com-
petent observer gave his opinion that they
caused no disturbance whatsoever among
roosting birds (Manchester Guardian,
2Q.xi.i7). During the air-raid of May igth,
1918, a NIGHTINGALE was heard, in a London
suburb, singing at the top of his voice when
the guns were most clamant and above the
crash of a bomb (Daily Express, 21 .v.i8).

Other writers consider that birds were
much upset by night raids, and it is recorded
that the DUCKS on the lakes in the London
parks rose and flew in despair, and that for
hours afterwards a lighted window attracted
them, with dolorous cries, from their weary
flight in quest of the waters from which they
had blundered (Daily Chronicle, 26.ix.i7).
The only birds which I saw personally
during the daylight raid of July 7th, 1917,
were London PIGEONS, which evinced the
greatest excitement at the general noise,

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

whirling about in flocks in a thoroughly
scared manner.

Charles Waterton was of the opinion that
all birds would get used to every sound ex-
cept that of the gun : this opinion has cer-
tainly been upset by the observations of
bird watchers on the battle fronts. In this
country there has not been sufficient con-
tinuous gun fire in any one place for the local
birds to become accustomed to it, and in
this connection it is interesting to note that
when, in November 1917, the bells of St.
Paul's rang out a merry peal for the " Victory
of the Tanks/' the PIGEONS in a startled
flock rose fluttering in the air ; whereas in
happier days, when the ringing of the cathe-
dral bells was a daily occurrence, they used
to regard it with indifference (Manchester
Guardian, 29.^.17). Similarly, when the
armistice with Germany was announced at
ii a.m., "French time/' on November nth,
1918, maroons were discharged, cannons
fired, and church bells rung in London, much
to the perturbation of the PIGEONS which
were unaccustomed to any such sounds. The

Sufferings of Birds

noise of gunfire in their immediate proximity
undoubtedly had a more or less transitory
effect, according to the duration of fire, on
certain classes of birds, chiefly WILDFOWL,
on the coast. During the bombardment of
Yarmouth and Lowest oft in 1915 the birds
were driven away in a panic. Anti-aircraft
guns in action terrified BLACKBIRDS, which
were much disturbed at each detonation and
flitted from tree to tree uttering agitated
cries. Even SWALLOWS, in their aerial chase,
seemed to dart hither and thither more
spasmodically than usual. It seems prob-
able that birds, being naturally sensitive to
aerial movements, are disturbed more by the
concussion of the air than by the actual
sound of the explosions (Daily Mail, lo.iv.

At the Zoological Gardens in Regent's
Park only a few birds raised protesting voices
during the raids, and still fewer showed any
sign of nervousness next morning. During
the daylight raids many of the birds sat with
their eyes fixed on the sky, and the CRANES
were at all times excited by the presence of

90

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

air-craft, " making a rare clatter/' as their
keeper said, "but that signified nothing, for
they shout their heads off every time a barge
passes on the canal" (Daily Mail, 22.x.

17).

Casualties among birds were of rare occur-
rence. In the summer of 1916 it was stated
that numbers of LINNETS had been found
dead near Louth, with the drums of their
ears split, and a complete absence of this
species was reported from Suffolk and Hert-
fordshire (Times, 4 and i8.vii.i6). In view
of the fact that birds did not suffer from the
reverberation of the guns on the battle-front,
the above statement becomes the more re-
markable. As the actual result of air-raids
an unlucky bird was more than once reported
as the only victim, and a CANARY in its cage
was the single casualty of an air-raid on King's
Lynn (Bird Notes and News, vol. vi. p. 79).
During the Zeppelin raid on the night of
September 22nd-23rd, 1916, a bomb, dropped
within twenty yards of a FOWL run, blew all the
feathers except one from a COCK'S tail. Next
day the bird, with truly Gallic sangfroid, was

Sufferings of Birds

strutting about with the one feather sticking
out, none the worse for its adventure (Globe,
25.ix.i6), and possibly feeling extra cock-a-
hoop in the knowledge that two of the Zeppe-
lins had been brought down.

Our intrepid airmen at times were tempted
to vie with birds in their own element. In
the very early days of aviation naval aviators
are credited with having shot DUCKS over
the marshes, and I know of one case where
an airman, out on a trial trip one day from
Ramsgate, came across some MALLARD ; he
gave chase, opened fire at them with his
machine-gun, and killed three, which were
picked up by a fisherman and brought to the
R.N.A. mess, where they formed a welcome
addition to Government rations. There is a
story, so far back as 1911, of the French
aviator Garros having shot with his revolver
at an EAGLE which attacked him while
flying over the mountains in Spain, when on
his way from Paris to Madrid. Louis Noel,
of the French Air Service, shot two EAGLES
in the air, from his machine, with a shot-
gun on the Salonika front (Ibis, 1919, p. 324).

92

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

On the Balkan front, in 1916, a French pilot
is said to have shot three EAGLES, with his
machine gun, in the course of an hour or so.
He regarded the EAGLE as not a very fast
flyer but a clever aviator, so that he had to
"nose-dive," "side-slip/' and "do vertical
banks " in order to keep in sight of his
quarry. On one occasion a British officer,
while testing a new machine behind the
French lines, was suddenly passed by a flock
of WILD GEESE. He promptly started in
pursuit and, oblivious of the direction in
which they were heading, flew right across
the lines at an altitude at which he offered
an easy target even to rifle fire. The Ger-
mans, however, were apparently so engrossed
in watching the performance that they neg-
lected to fire at him. At last the birds, as
he got near them, turned and headed back
across the lines again, with the result that he
returned to his own territory without a shot
having been fired at him (Daily Express,
25.iv.i6).

An airman has told me that birds were not
infrequently killed by coming into contact

93

Sufferings of Birds

with aeroplanes ; for reasons of their own
safety, however, and not from their love of
birds, airmen tried to give as wide a berth
as possible to any flocks of birds they hap-
pened to overtake or meet. An EAGLE is re-
ported to have been overtaken and entrapped
in the wires of a French aeroplane nearly
5,000 feet above the earth in Macedonia
(Daily Express, i8.v.i8), but the propeller
of an aeroplane is well known to be extremely
fragile. I have been assured that on one
occasion an airman narrowly escaped with
his life, the propeller of his machine having
been broken by coming into contact with a
soaring LARK. One is reminded of the story
of George Stephenson and the cow, whose
fate, it will be remembered, he did not expect
would be shared by the driver of the loco-
motive.

The effect of searchlights on GULLS has
been described as soporific ( ? hypnotic) ; in this
case it would seem that they rest in the steady
beam much as migrating birds rest in the
light of the lantern on lighthouse bird-rests.
Another observer, however, states that the

94

Effect of Air-raids and Air-craft

moving searchlights in the Firth of Forth and
in Weymouth Bay roused the GULLS to active
flight and the hunt for food (Bird Notes and
News, vol. vii. p. 3).

95

Ill— BEHAVIOUR OF BIRDS IN THE
WAR ZONES

97

8— BIRDS ON THE WESTERN
FRONT

MY difficulty in collating the notes by
eye-witnesses regarding the behavi-
our of birds on the Western Front
has been great, owing to the various aspects
of bird life as seen by individual observers.
Some of these were trustworthy ornitholo-
gists and all were bird-lovers, but it was only
to be expected that most of them were inter-
ested in the species which they either saw
for the first time or which were of compara-
tive rarity in Great Britain. Thus, many of
the observations refer to such species as the
GOLDEN ORIOLE, CRESTED LARK, ICTERINE
WARBLER, and other birds not uncommon in
France and Flanders but rare in this country.
Some observers write of migration as far as
they could witness it in their prescribed
range of observation, and many more write
of the presence and daily habits of ROOKS,

99

Behaviour of Birds

CROWS, MAGPIES, HAWKS, SPARROWS, and
other birds common alike to us and our
European Allies. To compile a catalogue of
the lists of birds recorded at the front would
serve no useful purpose here, and it has been
my endeavour only to draw attention to any
change of habit, peculiar trait, or extra-
ordinary behaviour noticed among birds, as
attributable in any way to the War. More-
over, such observations as are at my disposal
are derived from reports by soldiers confined
perforce to but a very limited portion of the
front held by the British troops, so that a bird,
described as common in one part of the line,
might be rare in another.

It is difficult to sum up the effect of the
battle on the Western Front on birds . Though
bird life has been described as almost normal
in the artillery area and up to within a short
distance of the trenches, many species must
have been banished from areas which had
been devastated by the effects of shell fire
(Ibis, 1917, p. 528). Very few of the familiar
garden birds still clung to the flattened vil-
lages, and the HOUSE SPARROW seemed to be

100

Birds on the Western Front

the only bird that felt thoroughly at home.
In the fields the ordinary birds of the season
were plentiful and unconcerned, %. and whejv
the summer migrants arrived they 'returned,
to their old haunts in the half-fetlf fl.orcliarcls
and the ruined houses and nested quite hap-
pily (Ibis, 1919, p. 57). In times of peace,
birds have been known to frequent noisy
places with marvellous persistency — for in-
stance, it is on record that a PIED WAGTAIL
sat on her nest, placed under a railway switch
over which trains passed almost hourly,
without deserting it ; and, as I have already
said, Charles Waterton was of the opinion
that birds would get used to every sound
except that of the gun. It is therefore re-
markable that the outstanding feature of all
the notes which I have collected is the
unanimity with which all observers insist
on the remarkable indifference displayed by
birds to the noise of battle.

At the beginning of the War it was ex-
pected that the battle-fronts would be de-
serted by all birds except those grim followers
of war, the VULTURE, RAVEN, and HOODIE-

101

Behaviour of Birds

CROW, but facts proved these expectations
to be entirely wrong. In autumn and winter
bird life is never so assertive as in spring
and summer, and it is therefore natural that
in the earlier months of the first year of the
War observations on birds should have been
comparatively few. We have also to picture
a landscape of shattered trees, and the ground
so torn up by shells that there scarcely re-
mained a single blade of grass (Ibis, 1917,
p. 528), truly an unattractive spot for any
species of resident birds. With the return
of spring in 1915, however, the increasing
number of birds became a subject for com-
ment in many a letter home, and as one
writer put it : " He was a cynic who said
even the birds are birds of prey " (Scotsman,
25.iii.i6). With the approach of summer
an extraordinary plant growth was reported,
doubtless due to the complete pulverisation
of the soil by mines and shell explosions and
to the large quantities of nitrates and potash
released from the explosives themselves.
Coltsfoot and lesser celandine in spring had
made stars of gold of old shell-holes of the

102

Birds on the Western Front

previous year, and, as the season advanced,
it would seem that Nature was doing her
utmost to heal the ugly scars of war. An
erstwhile Scots gardener, now a subaltern
and a recipient of the D.C.M., writing to me
on July 20th, 1916, described the cornflowers
and poppies as "just terrible/'

The following letter gives a graphic de-
scription of the change of scenery: — "Sum-
mer has disguised the desolation of the
stricken land. A few months ago all her
wounds were lying open ; the bare, stunted
tree trunks gashed and broken ; gaunt, shell-
scarred walls and ruined buildings and every-
where the face of the earth torn and dis-
figured. Long lines of ditches — for a trench
is no more than a deep ditch — winding tor-
tuously here and there, crossing and recross-
ing. Deep shell-holes full of muddy water,
shattered carts and farm implements lying
neglected. Everywhere stark desolation.
Now it is different. To go up the communi-
cation trenches is like a ramble down a
country lane ; tall grass and wild- flowers
have sprung up on the sides and parapets so

103

Behaviour of Birds

thickly that they almost roof over the trench.
In the neglected gardens of the ruined houses
the flowers still bloom. The birds are every-
where " (Globe, I4.vii.i6). Indeed, it ap-
pears that birds were possibly more numerous
in Northern France and Flanders than before
the War, and " No-man's-land " proved an
attractive place, in spite of the noise and all
the dangers of artillery fire, for thousands of
birds to nest and rear their young (H. Tho-
burn Clarke, in The English Review, March
1918). Nor must it be forgotten that the
abnormal quantity of insects doubtless formed
an attraction to insectivorous birds, and this
was particularly noticed as regards SWALLOWS,
MARTINS, and SWIFTS (Country Life, j.x.i6,
p. 399). An observer, in the neighbourhood
of Peronne, writes in September 1918 that
the battlefields were so close that an evening
stroll brought one to places desolate enough
to make one wonder whether life of any sort
could still exist, but the very desolation
seemed to have its attraction, and in the
course of a few weeks it was possible to count
nearly sixty different varieties of birds within

104

Birds on the Western Front

less than two miles of Peronne (Daily Ex-
press, 27.ix.i8).

That birds were indifferent to the noise of
battle is, as I have already said, the unani-
mous opinion of all observers. There can be
no question that a considerable portion of
the European avi-fauna had an experience of
noise quite without precedent. There has
been nothing like the gunfire in the world's
history, not only for volume but for dura-
tion. It is difficult to visualise a modern
battlefield; the very ground quakes from
the detonation of the monster guns, there are
bursting shells, rolling screens of smoke, rifle
bullets flying around as thick as clouds of
locusts on the veldt, machine guns r-r-r-r-r-
ripping in all directions, while great multi-
tudes of soldiers are at deadly grips in a
battle-line scores of miles long and many
miles deep. Yet the effect on bird life, so
far as can be judged, was singularly small,
and birds in areas where the gunfire was
hottest displayed remarkable ability in adapt-
ing themselves to conditions which in pre-
war days would have been regarded as im-

105

Behaviour of Birds

possible (Charles Dixon in The Manchester
Guardian, 2Q.xi.i7). On more than one
occasion the coming attack of poisonous gas
was foretold to our soldiers by the birds, who
were the first to detect the noxious fumes
(Bird Notes and News, vol. vi. p. 102), and
they do not appear to have suffered from this
vile weapon of destruction which was one of
the hideous novelties of the War.

"It was the birds/' writes an eye-witness
who was at Ypres in the summer of 1918,
"that gave one the greatest surprise. Pro-
bably Ypres has been more shelled than any
other place, particularly as regards gas-shells.
It was inconceivable that any animal capable
of leaving such an apparently inhospitable
and dangerous neighbourhood should remain,
especially as the night was worse than the
day, for then our own guns added to the
tremendous racket" (Observer, 5.1.19). The
roar of the guns was, to the birds, presumably
no more than thunder, and when a shell fell
near them it was only some new, if startling,
natural phenomenon (Bird Notes and News,
vol. vii. p. 14). Possibly they became callous

106

Birds on the Western Front

to the uproar of the fighting-line, because
they quickly realised that the destruction
was not loosed upon themselves (Dailty Mail,
ii.vi.i7). Indeed, one ornithologist was of
opinion that birds preferred the noise of battle
to the treacherous quiet of peace, when the
inhabitants of the countryside have plenty
of time to hunt and otherwise annoy them.
M. Reboussin has recorded the numbers of
birds seen and heard to the north-west of
Verdun, notwithstanding the constant artil-
lery duels going on day and night (Revue
Fran$aise d'Ornithologie, November 1916, pp.
81-92); and Dr. Arthur Allan, of Cornell
University, speaking at a meeting of the
American Ornithologists' Union at Phila-
delphia in 1916, stated that: "A doctor,
attached to an ambulance corps in France,
had counted thirty-five species of birds that
had built nests in ruins of buildings and
trenches abandoned by inhabitants and troops.
Artillery fire, which had swept away entire
sections of woods, failed to disturb the birds
which happened to be building there, and
numbers were seen actually building nests

107

Behaviour of Birds

under fire. The tree in which one of the
birds was making a nest was entirely swept
away by a shell, but a bird in a neighbouring
tree went right on building " (New York
World, 7.xii.i6). There is a story of a tree,
in front of a dug-out, having been uprooted
by a shell and replanted in a shell-hole ; a
little terrified, trembling, but uninjured bird
was discovered on its nest in the replanted
tree (Bristol Times and Mirror, 5.viii.i6).
The long-continued bombardment of Nieu-
port seemed to an eye-witness only an induce-
ment and an incentive to the feathered choirs
(Manchester Guardian, io.v.i6). The fol-
lowing is part of Mr. H. Perry Robinson's
description of the terrific artillery prelude of
the British assault on the Ypres salient in
June 1917: "The sun as it rose was in-
visible behind the bank of smoke, but it
flushed the sky above with red. It was a
truly terrible dawn, most beautiful in its
terror, and, if ever dawn did indeed come
up like thunder, it was this. Then came
the greatest miracle of all, for with the rose-
flush in the sky the whole bird-chorus of

108

Birds on the Western Front

morning came to life. Never, surely, did
birds sing so — BLACKBIRD and THRUSH, LARK
and BLACK-CAP and WILLOW WARBLER.
Most of the time their voices, of course, were
inaudible, but now and again in the intervals
of the shattering noise of the guns their notes
pealed up, as if each bird were struck with
frenzy and were striving to shout down the
guns " (Daily News, 8.vi.i7).

The above quotations from the observa-
tions of eye-witnesses illustrate the indiffer-
ence of birds in general to the noise of battle ;
the following notes testify to the behaviour
of individual species : —

A BLACKBIRD built her nest on a siege-gun
daily in action on the front and laid four
eggs in it, being, as one of the gunners said,
" as saucy as she was confident of our protec-
tion" (Daily Express, 5.v.i6). Another
BLACKBIRD built its nest in the body of a
field-gun which had not been fired for four
days, during which period the nest was made
and three eggs were laid. Thereafter the
gun was fired daily, but the bird laid two
more eggs and continued to sit unconcernedly

109

Behaviour of Birds

(Bird Notes and New$, vol. vi. p. 87). A
BLACKBIRD reared its brood in a nest which
was built in a hedge only twenty yards from
two 9* 2-inch guns. The birds, old and young,
never seemed to mind the firing of the guns,
which shattered glass in windows and tore the
tiles off houses fifty yards away (Scotsman,
25.vii.i7). A BLACKBIRD'S nest with three
young birds in it was found in a captured
village which had been right in the old Ger-
man front line. The mother-bird must have
sat on its nest during the whole of the pre-
liminary bombardment and the subsequent
terrific fighting ; everything around the nest
was smashed to atoms(Z>^7y Mail, 28.vii.i6).
The day after the Wytschaete Ridge had
been taken, June 7th, 1917, a BLACKBIRD
was found sitting on a nest containing five
eggs, built about 3 feet from the ground, in
a communication trench leading to, and
about 15 yards from, the original German line.
A big mine had been exploded within 120
yards of the spot, making a crater large
enough to accommodate a good-sized house,
and there were also shell-holes within but a

no

Birds on the Western Front

few yards of the nest (Times, i6.vi.i7). On
Whit Sunday, 1918, the trenches round about
a willow, in which a BLACKBIRD had its nest,
were smartly shelled with 5*9 for an hour or
more. The cock-bird's evensong was, how-
ever, unimpaired, and seemed, if anything,
more melodious (Observer, 5.1.19).

A ROBIN was observed to perch persis-
tently upon the bayonet of a French soldier
(Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 24.V.I5),
and another ROBIN chose a dug-out for its
nesting-place, where it reared its brood of
five without disturbance (Bird Notes and
News, vol. vi. p. 87). A ROBIN'S nest was
discovered in an old shell-case half concealed
among the ivy covering a ruined shed (Scots-
man, 20.iv.i8).

NIGHTINGALES were frequently heard dur-
ing the intervals of a night's bombardment
(Times, n.vi.i6), and sang while monster
shells were bursting in a town eight miles
from the firing-line (Scotsman, 9.vii.i6). A
brood of young NIGHTINGALES was hatched,
on the day of the heaviest Hooge bombard-
ment, on the lip of the first-line trench (Times,

in

Behaviour of Birds

2.iii.i6). On May isth, 1915, at 3 a.m. in
the garden of a chateau a NIGHTINGALE
began to sing ; half an hour afterwards
German shells were rained upon the garden
incessantly throughout the day. The bird
sang without a pause where the shells fell
thickest until mid-day, and survived, for next
morning he started again as cheerily as ever
(Times, 2.iii.i6). A wiring party, forced to
seek refuge in their front-line trench by a
sharp burst of artillery fire lasting five min-
utes, were surprised, ten minutes after, to
hear the sweet song of a NIGHTINGALE in an
adj oining coppice ( Scotsman, 1 6 . vi . 1 7) . Dur-
ing one of our most furious artillery duels a
NIGHTINGALE sang gaily from the shelter of a
dwarfed hawthorn, his song sounding strange
and eerie between the violent cannonading
from our guns. Yet, in spite of the deafening
uproar, he never paused in his singing until
the dawn came up, lurid and sullen, over the
eastern horizon, and the rain descended in
torrents. Later on, his mate was found to
have a nest in the hawthorn, and was sitting
upon her eggs, apparently unmoved by the

112

PLATE 14. — "SWALLOWS quietly perched on war-telegraph wires'* (p» 118).

II2J

;.%:, ,,

, i

t

Birds on the Western Front

thunder of the guns. She certainly paid no
heed to the movements of the troops as they
passed to and fro, close to the nest, busy with
their day's work (Land and Water, I4.ix.i6).
An observer in the battle-zone in the valley
of the Ancre writes on June ist, 1918 :
" Whether in the front line, or in the still
noisier belt just in front of the field-guns,
the heavier the fire the more exultant the
flow of song ; and three nights ago, when we
stood-to during a barrage in gas-masks in a
wood reeking with mustard gas, the NIGHT-
INGALES still sang undismayed in the branches
overhead" (Manchester Guardian, io.vi.i8).
In May 1917 a NIGHTINGALE, in Ossus Wood,
our most advanced position near the St.
Quentin Canal, sang particularly well when
the machine-guns fired, as if in answer to
them (Ibis, 1919, p. 68). About June 1917,
when preparations were on foot for the great
" third battle of Ypres/' a party of troops
halted in a wood, midway between Ypres —
Elver drighe — Poperinghe, for the usual "ten
minutes easy." The wood was well within
shell-fire of the enemy and had just received
i 113

Behaviour of Birds

such a sprinkling of poison gas that the men
were compelled, as the air was heavily charged
with gas-fumes, to wear their respirators. To
their amazement a NIGHTINGALE burst into
song in the very wood in which they were
halted (Observer, 19.1.19). An eye-witness
speaks of a NIGHTINGALE which sang his
spring song of passion in the derelict garden
of a shattered nunnery while shells shrieked
overhead (Daily Mail, g.v.iy); and another
observer writes : " The song of the NIGHT-
INGALE seemed to come all the more sweetly
and clearly in the quiet intervals between
the bursts of firing. There was something
infinitely sweet and sad about it, as if the
countryside were singing gently to itself in
the midst of all our noise and confusion and
muddy work ; so that you felt the NIGHTIN-
GALE'S song was the only real thing which
would remain when all the rest was long past
and forgotten. It is such an old song too,
handed on from NIGHTINGALE to NIGHTINGALE
through the summer nights of so many in-
numerable years " (Bird Notes and News,
vol. vii. p. 14).

114

Birds on the Western Front

GREAT TITS, doubtless of the continental
species, could be seen exploring the broken
tree stumps, which were the only indication
of the site of Thiepval Wood, in spite of
77 mm. shells which were bursting near
(Ibis, 1917, p. 532).

REED WARBLERS did not even raise their
heads out of their nests during the most
heavy firing (Bird Notes and News, vol. vii.
p. 2).

A pair of ICTERINE WARBLERS were build-
ing in a lilac bush in Villers Pluich, on
May 25th, 1917 ; but the place got a bad
pounding the same evening and the nest
was probably destroyed, as it was only a very
short distance behind the firing-line (Ibis,
1919, p 65).

Despite the fact that the largest Hun shells
were bursting near, a WHITETHROAT remained
on its nest, and, although the very air seemed
to be filled with a terrifying, tearing crash
followed by a long echoing roar, duly reared
its brood of four (Bird Notes and News, vol.
vii. p. 109).

A BLACKCAP sat on her eggs near Ypres

Behaviour of Birds

and never even raised her head from her duty
when shells burst close by (Daily News
and Leader, 22.iv.i6). Another BLACKCAP
trilled its dainty song night after night, and,
although the guns were often fired, sang gaily
from his perch in one of the saplings that
masked one of the guns (Land and Water,
I4.ix.i6). A BLACKCAP'S nest was blown
sideways by shells, but the birds rebuilt
another nest within 10 feet of the old nest.
The three eggs, which formed the complement
of this second venture, were white as snow ;
but both cock and hen, which alternately
sat on them, never flinched when under shell-
fire {Bird Notes and News, vol. vii. p. i).

While our guns thundered the overture to
the battle of Arras, a CHIFFCHAFF sang im-
patiently not far behind the battle line (Times,

3-V.I7).

HEDGE SPARROWS were very fond of build-
ing their nests in the broken wheels of derelict
waggons (Scotsman, i6.vi.i7).

SWALLOWS flew around the heaps of ruins
that represented their former homes, and it
was some days before they became reassured

116 '

Birds on the Western Front

and built in the military huts constructed
against the battered walls (Bird Notes and
News, vol. vi. p. 101). SWALLOWS often
nested in billets, and a pair placed their nest
and reared their brood in a room used as a
field dressing-station (Scotsman, 25.vii.i7).
Another pair built their nest in an " Arm-
strong hut " only sixty or seventy yards from
a battery of 6-inch howitzers, which fired
at intervals of about three minutes or less
throughout the day, and on special occasions
all night long. With each discharge the air
concussion, quite apart from the crash of the
report, caused the hut to rock, indeed almost
to jump (Scotsman, so.vi.iy). SWALLOWS
did not desert their broods in an outhouse
when a shell took off the greater part of the
roof, and before the day was over they were
using the shell-holes as a convenient entrance
through which to pass backwards and for-
wards with food for their young (Bird Notes
and News, vol. vii. p. 44). A SWALLOW'S
nest with five eggs was found in a German
dug-out, about 6£ feet from the floor. Every
chimney, house, and shed had been levelled

117

Behaviour of Birds

by the retreating Germans (British Birds
Magazine, vol. xi. p. 67). The sites for nest-
ing in the Peronne district were remarkable
owing to the absence of buildings. SWAL-
LOWS often used the circular Nissen huts put
up for the troops, and were extraordinarily
tame and confiding. A wooden porch, erected
outside a ruined single-room cottage at
Roisel, was used directly it was put up.
Another pair made valiant efforts to build
their nest under the hood of a R.A. battery
lorry ; it went out regularly, but the birds
carried on. building operations on its return
and only gave up after two or three days.
A pair of SWALLOWS managed to stick their
nest against the vertical wall of a windowless
room used as an officers' mess ; the nest had
no sort of support underneath (Ibis, 1918,
vol. vi. p. 359). In the very heart of a
shelled and ruined town SWALLOWS quietly
perched on war-telegraph wires, before migra-
ting, as though the turmoil of battle were a
thousand miles away (Illustrated London News,
25.ix.i5). Preparatory to migration the
SWALLOWS collected in flocks and might be

118

Birds on the Western Front

seen rising in a body whenever a shell struck
the roof on which they were perching (Land
and Water, I4.ix.i6).

MARTINS and SWALLOWS flew over and
about the trenches even when the Maxims
were rattling away, scattering their deadly
shower of bullets (Scotsman, n.viii.i7).
Quite a hundred HOUSE-MARTINS and SWAL-
LOWS used to circle, in the spring of 1918,
around the cathedral and adjacent church
tower of Ypres. These were daily shelled
and hit ; none the less, nest building went on
with patience and perseverance, the neces-
sary mud being obtained from very old shell-
holes and the canal banks (Observer, 5.1.19).
At one part of the line HOUSE-MARTINS de-
lighted to build their nests under the cornice,
decorated with cupids and flowers, surround-
ing a wall that was once part of the ballroom
of an historic chateau (Scotsman, i6.vi.

17).

A SAND-MARTIN'S nest, full of young birds,
was found on the exposed side of a German
trench captured in July 1918 ; the parent
birds, though they had survived a long and

119

Behaviour of Birds

severe shelling of the trench before its cap-
ture, seemed absolutely without fear (Scots-
man, 28.xii.i8).

Another fine chateau, that had suffered
badly from Boche shells, was deserted except
by a few SPARROWS in the drawing-room
(Country Life, 6.v.i6). Every house that
had been blown to bits by shell-fire provided
an endless choice of fascinating nesting-
places for SPARROWS among the chinks of
the ruined walls (Bird Notes and News,
vol. vii. p. 14). Flocks of SPARROWS might
be seen to leave a building which had been
struck by a shell only to return there within
a few minutes (Scotsman, 25.iii.i6).

Small flocks of TREE-SPARROWS were fre-
quently seen on our wire in front of the craters
which divided the German line from ours (Ibis,

*9*9> P- 57)-
Wire entanglements attracted CHAFFINCHES,

who evidently considered them preferable to
brambles (Land and Water, I4.ix.i6), and
more than one nest was found in a tangle of
our barbed-wire briars (Daily News and
Leader, 22.iv.i6). CHAFFINCHES could be

120

Birds on the Western Front

heard singing on the Somme whenever there
was a lull in the almost incessant fire (Times,
n.vi.i6).

In April 1917 a flock of a few score LIN-
NETS was always on or about a derelict clump
of telegraph wires at Epehy, where shells fell
not infrequently (Ibis, 1919, p. 61).

STARLINGS never had such opportunity for
unmolested housekeeping as in the remains
of the poor battered churches (Bird Notes and
News, vol. vii. p. 14). Flocks would sweep
out in a semicircle from some building
which had been struck by a shell, and then
swing back to it and settle almost before the
brick dust had completely cleared away
(Scotsman, 25.iii.i6).

On one occasion a pair of MAGPIES went on
building their nest in a wood when the battle
was at its fiercest. Suddenly a shell struck
the foot of the tree, sending tree and nest
high into the air (Scottish Naturalist, 1917,
p. 139). A MAGPIE was seen to fly to a
crater, made by a shell a few seconds pre-
viously, and begin to feed on the grubs
among the freshly scattered earth (Ibis, 1917,

121

Behaviour of Birds

p. 529). In our advance on Peronne a pet
MAGPIE was found in the German trenches
and was promptly appropriated by its captor.
Acting on the adage of " set a thief to catch
a thief," a MAGPIE became the devoted
guardian of a soldier's tent (The Sphere,
29.iii.i9).

The attacks on aeroplanes delivered by the
JACKDAWS of St. Omer have already been
recorded.

SKYLARKS might at times be seen singing
over trenches in which two armies were at
death-grips, but they always sang in spite of
everything (Daily Express, 23.^.17); in fact,
the song of the SKYLARK at dawn over " No-
man's-land " was as usual as the song of the
sniper's bullet (Daily News and Leader,
22.iv.i6). SKYLARKS could be heard sing-
ing on the Somme, well in advance of the
large guns, whenever there was a lull in the
almost incessant fire (Times, n.vi.i6), and
they might often be seen soaring to " Heaven's
gate " when aeroplanes above were being
vigorously shelled by anti-aircraft guns (Star,
3.vii.i6). As a soldier-poet wrote :

122

Birds on the Western Front

Hushed is the shriek of hurtling shells, and hark !
Somewhere within that bit of deep blue sky,
Grand in his loneliness, his ecstasy,
His lyric wild and free, carols a LARK.

But, if only to show the variability of the
human temperament, I record the following
story of another British Tommy and a LARK :
After a day of terrific fighting, when the
bombardment ceased, there lay on the battle-
field some scores of our dead and wounded.
Of a sudden a LARK darted into the sky,
pouring forth his joyous lay. " What the
'ell is 'e singing about?" irritably asked a
prostrate Tommy (London Mail, 28.viii.i5).

SWIFTS were quite fearless of the guns, and
their screams were strangely appropriate
when accompanied by the moan of a shell
(Country Life, 7 .x.i6, p. 399). They shrieked
overhead, while 15,000 feet above our shrapnel
was bursting round an enemy aeroplane
(Daily Mail, g.v.17).

The call of the CUCKOO, so reminiscent of
the promise of spring, was eagerly awaited
by our fighting men, and on the Somme its
familiar note was heard whenever the almost

123

Behaviour of Birds

incessant gunfire died down(Times, n. iv. 16).
CUCKOOS were seen within 300 yards of the
first-line trenches (Scotsman, i6.vi.i7).

OWLS, BROWN and LITTLE, were so callous
to the racket of shell and rifle fire that they
revelled in hawking rats and mice at night,
as usual, and proved of inestimable value
(Bristol Times and Mirror, 2i.vii.i6, and
Times, lo.i.iy). Often at night, when the
guns were active, OWLS slipped noiselessly
past, on silent wing, dodging from side to
side in the manner peculiar to the species,
and keeping clear as far as possible from in
front of the muzzles of the guns (H. Thoburn
Clarke, in Land and Water, I4.ix.i6). A
pair of OWLS inhabited the ruins of a barn,
which also sheltered an anti-aircraft gun,
and whenever this was fired the OWLS dashed
out, to be mobbed by all the small birds in
the neighbourhood (Land and Water, 14. ix.
16).

KESTRELS manifested an utter disregard
for all the noise of war, and might often be
seen over " No-man's-land " or sitting on the
stakes supporting the barbed wire (Scotsman,

124

Birds on the Western Front

25.iii.i6). They hovered about all day in
the hottest part of the line, not in the least
disconcerted apparently when a promising
mouse-area suddenly rose in the air in a
cascade of black or yellow earth (Weekly
Westminster, I4.x.i6). One pair of KES-
TRELS had a nest in a " crack " on the side of
a slag-heap which was frequently shelled by
the Germans. Whenever a shell exploded
near their domicile the birds would fly down
to some wire entanglements in the vicinity,
but they returned as soon as things quieted
down, and never deserted their nest (Star,
3.vii.i6).

STORKS returned unusually early to Alsace
in 1916, but the draining of the marshes round
Strasbourg drove them nearly all away from
that city. They proved as indifferent to the
thunder of the guns as any other bird (Even-
ing News, n.iii.i6), and returned to old
nesting-places on ruined buildings (Man-
chester Guardian, 2g.xi.i7).

SNIPE and WATERFOWL of all sorts congre-
gated on the flooded craters and the vast
expanse of mud and desolation between the

125

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

Birds on the Western Front

to a river, they appeared very much alarmed
for an hour or more (Field, 2O.X.I7).

The SWANS of Ypres were well known to
practically nearly every battalion which
tasted the fighting in the Ypres salient. In
June 1915 the shelling of this area was par-
ticularly severe, but the small family of
SWANS, which lived in the moat below the
ramparts of the stricken city, glided placidly
on the water and survived this and the
terrible bombardments of the subsequent
three years. Great was the excitement among
our troops when, in 1917, the SWANS began
nesting operations. On one occasion a Ger-
man shell fell within a short distance of the
nest, but the bird which was then sitting
took no notice, except that, for a moment,
she fluttered from the concussion. The tri-
umph of the parent birds came when, during
the fearful fighting of the third battle for the
city, two cygnets were hatched (Daily Mail,

22.V.I8).

A WOODPIGEON nested in a thorn bush
between our front trenches and enemy
territory. The thistle-choked valley in which

127

Behaviour of Birds

the bush stood was under fire from both sides,
and actually served as a sanctuary for the
birds (Times, n.vi.i6).

Round the caricature of St. Martin's Cathe-
dral at Ypres a faithful remnant of civic
PIGEONS still, in 1917, told of ancient peace
(Observer, I2.i.io).

A fair-sized orchard, directly between our
lines and the enemy's and frequently swept by
both rifle and artillery fire, seemed the favour-
ite promenade for COCK PHEASANTS (Bird
Notes and News, vol. vi. p. 88). The familiar
"chuk-up, chuc-chuc-cup " of a COCK PHEA-
SANT going to roost could be heard nightly
in June 1918 in a clump of willows which
lay about 50 yards to the rear of the support
trenches at Ypres. This clump was daily
plastered with a few shells in the vain hope
of finding some i8-pounders. Each day, it
was expected, would prove the PHEASANT'S
last; but no — sooner or later in the evening
the Germans would get the same sound
advice, "Shuck-up " (Observer, 5.1.19). In
many places PHEASANTS were conspicuous
by their absence ; possibly this was due to

128

Birds on the Western Front

the wholesale destruction of the woods or to
the poaching proclivities of some of our
soldiers (The Field, 5.V.I7, p. 662).

PARTRIDGES fed securely in " No-man's-
land." A nest, with fourteen eggs, was
found within fifty yards of a battery posi-
tion ; the bird sat close, though 2,000 rounds
were fired daily (Field, 2g.vii.i6, p. 186).
Near Gouzeaucourt, in a very much shelled
area, a PARTRIDGE sat on seventeen eggs ;
on either side of her nest, and within two
yards of it, were "pip-squeak" shell-holes
very recently made (Times, 22.vi.i7). PAR-
TRIDGES were often seen about the line in the
La Bassee sector, where they gave good prac-
tice for successful rifle and Lewis-gun fire
into "No-man's-land" (Ibis, 1919, p. 77).
A " Minnie " shell was seen to explode in the
middle of a covey of PARTRIDGES ; such
birds as were not hit simply jumped up, lit
again, and immediately went on feeding un-
perturbed.

QUAILS called to each other while shells
exploded close to them (Land and Water,
I4.ix.i6), and could be heard calling during
K 129

Behaviour of Birds

" stand-to " just before dawn, in August 1918,
in the reoccupied trenches of the old devas-
tated area of the first Somme offensive (Ibis,
1919, p. 77).

CORN-CRAKES "craked" regularly, in spite
of the fact that "back areas'" were being
shelled with great persistence (Scotsman,
i6.vi.i7), and were reported as plentiful in
the long hay-grass growing round the front-
line trenches on the Somme (Ibis, 1919, p. 57).

In the farmyards, HENS went on clucking
and laying eggs, while huge shells burst all
round them (The Field, 27.vii.i8).

The foregoing extracts from observations
by eye-witnesses are but samples of a host
of notes on the behaviour of individual birds
on our Western Front. One would have ex-
pected that the casualties amongst birds
would have been very heavy and that hun-
dreds must have been wounded and killed
by bursting shrapnel, but their bodies were
seldom seen ; possibly they were immedi-
ately eaten by the numberless armies of
vermin which swarmed about the country.
After a wood had been shelled by the Ger-

130

Birds on the Western Front

mans it was carefully searched to see the
effects on wild life, and only a dead PARTRIDGE,
a DOVE, two RATS, and a severely wounded
MOLE were found. RATS, MICE, BATS,
BEETLES, CATERPILLARS, and BUTTERFLIES,
even WORMS many inches below the ground,
could be found dead by the dozen, after a
gas attack, but no adult birds ; although any
nestlings must, of course, have been suffo-
cated. On one occasion, when the gas at-
tack was particularly severe and before
the great white cloud drifted to our lines, the
birds were chirping and twittering gaily,
the ROBIN trilling his autumn song, and the
STARLINGS singing in full chorus in a shattered
tree. Then, except for the awful crash of
the guns, nature was silent. Yet, when the
gas cloud dispersed, all the birds were sing-
ing just as gaily as ever, chirping and hunting
food as if nothing had happened. Possibly
the birds flee before the gas cloud, just as
they flee before a bush fire, and return when
it is over (H. Thoburn Clarke, in Land and
Water, I4.ix.i6). One observer writes of
having seen several SPARROWS suffering from

Behaviour of Birds

shell-shock (Bird Notes and News, vol. vi.
p. 91), and two STARLINGS, roaming listlessly
over the ground, every now and then stagger-
ing as if weak and unsteady on their legs
(Bird Notes and News, vol. vii. p. 106), may
have been similarly afflicted.

Naturally our soldiers took every oppor-
tunity they could of having a day's shooting,
and any game they might get proved an
acceptable addition to their rations ; there
are also stories of how our cavalry-men, when
at rest behind the lines, used to delight in
riding down PARTRIDGES. Shooting was one
of the principal recreations of the Allied
armies after the armistice of November nth,
1918. The German civilian population had
to surrender its firearms of every description
when the occupying troops arrived, so that
large stocks of sporting guns and cartridges
were available in every town and village.
On February 3rd, 1919, an Army order was
issued prohibiting, in accordance with the
local game laws, the shooting of PARTRIDGES ;
COCK PHEASANTS and WILDFOWL, however,
still remained fair game (Daily Mail, 7 .ii . 19).

Birds on the Western Front

More than one article on bird-nesting at
the front proved at least the undaunted
keenness of our fighting egg-collectors (vide
Country Life, 6.v.i6; Ibis, vol. vi. 1918,
etc.). It is, however, truly touching that in
the midst of their life-and-death struggle
our soldiers should have so often found re-
laxation and comfort in studying and think-
ing of Nature. I have repeatedly heard that,
when in billets, our men were only too glad
to forget the horrors of war in comparing
notes on birds. The extreme anxiety which
was shown by our soldiers over these morsels
of life was surprising, seeing that they had
set the value of their own at nothing, as
things were (Daily News and Leader, 22 .iv.i6).
That the War was not all brutal was proved
by many acts of Christian charity as well as
by numerous kindly actions towards birds.
On one occasion an officer of a London regi-
ment stood for half an hour beside a PLOVER'S
nest to prevent the eggs being damaged by
the troops who were passing the spot (Daily
Sketch, I7.vi.i6). A soldier, conducting a
war correspondent round our lines, told him :

133

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.

134

9— BIRDS ON THE GALLIPOLI, ITALIAN,
MACEDONIAN, PALESTINE, AND
MESOPOTAMIAN FRONTS

GALLIPOLI

THE records which I have from battle
fronts other than that in France and
Flanders are comparatively meagre.
The majority of observations take the form
of lists of birds common to the locality though
rare in Great Britain, and, though of ornitho-
logical interest, fail to come under my present
purview. The same indifference on the part
of birds to the noise of war is always noticed.
An officer of the Mediterranean Expeditionary
Force writes : " The astounding thing is
how little the birds are put out by the crash
of shells, columns of dust, clouds of smoke,
and the movement of large bodies of troops
over the hitherto undisturbed and peaceful
domain " (Saturday Review, g.x.is). They

135

Birds on the Eastern Fronts

appear to have been far more disturbed by
the troops everywhere than by the shells
(Zoologist, 1916, p. 122).

KESTRELS were seen hovering, taking not
the least notice of the bursting Turkish
shrapnel or the detonation of the heavy
naval guns and field artillery covering the
advance and filling the firmament with con-
tinuous roar (Saturday Review, g.x.is).

GREY SHRIKES, WARBLERS, and LARKS sat
perched on the top of bushes, not having
been so much upset by the commotion as to
quit the place (Saturday Review, Q.X.IS).

CRESTED LARKS were very common and
tame ; if a shell burst in the grass or heather
where they were, it merely caused them to
fly up and utter their call note, and they soon
dropped down again (Zoologist, 1916, p. 128).

In May 1915 a WHEATEAR'S nest was
found in a cleft on the side of a Turkish
trench, above "Lancashire Landing." The
Turks had only just evacuated the position,
so that the birds had not been frightened
away by the bombardment nor by the subse-
quent landing ; the female proved to be

136

Behaviour of Birds

quite fearless of man. Two pairs of WHEAT-
EARS nested, and reared their broods, not far
from Krithia, in a bank which was constantly
being plastered with bullets and bursting
shells (Country Life, S.ii.ig).

More than once a shrapnel shell appeared
to burst among a flock of birds, but the
actual damage done could never be ascer-
tained. On one occasion a sergeant in the
R.A.M.C. found a LARK incapacitated from
flying by a slight wound in the wing. It was
easily caught and kept in an old biscuit tin,
where it was fed on crumbs of army biscuit
moistened with water. In a few days the
wing was healed and the bird released (Ob-
server, 2.1.1 6).

ITALY

The behaviour of the birds on the Italian
front has not, as far as I know, provoked any
comment.

A PIGEON, which as a chick had been blown
out of its nest and had fallen at the feet of a
British gunner, was hand-reared and fed by
him until it became so attached to his bat-

137

Birds on the Eastern Fronts

tery that it would not leave. It accompanied
the guns through several fights, notably
Asiago, the Austrian offensive of June isth,
1918, where it was gassed, and Montello.

MACEDONIA

STORKS were numerous near Salonika, and
one of these birds acquired the habit of
meeting our aeroplanes wherever they landed
and soon came to be regarded by the pilots
as their mascot.

After a terrific tearing and roaring noise of
artillery and shot in "the dead of night "
there would be a temporary cessation of the
duel, when out would come the NIGHTIN-
GALES, right above the guns, perched some-
times only a few yards from them in some
bushes, in a ravine where our guns were
hidden.

An EAGLE, well looked after and carefully
handled, became the pet of a subaltern in
the Balkans.

PALESTINE
It was remarked that in Palestine the birds

138

Behaviour of Birds

took little notice of aeroplanes; as an
observer puts it, "they created no more
alarm than a steam engine in the next parish ' '
(The Field, ly.xi.i;).

STARLINGS put in an appearance on the
first day of the bombardment of Gaza, at the
end of October 1917. Their numbers in-
creased as the year went on, and by Decem-
ber there was a flock estimated at half a
million, which fed, being often accompanied
by flocks of thousands of ROCK-PIGEONS, on
the old British camping-ground.

SWALLOWS, both European and Egyptian,
were common throughout the autumn, and
invariably accompanied mounted troops to
catch the insects disturbed by their horses'
feet (Field, 3O.iii.i8, p. 447).

Not far from the Wadi Guzzee, a pair of
WHEATEARS took up residence, in May 1917,
within two yards of a bivouac occupied by a
detachment of R.A.M.C. The hen-bird was
quite fearless, and would enter her nest whilst
men were washing in a basin less than two
yards off, without the least sign of alarm
(Country Life, S.ii.ig).

139

Birds on the Eastern Fronts

I have several notes concerning the birds
commonly met with in Palestine though
rare in this country, but they throw no light
on the effect of the War on birds.

MESOPOTAMIA

None of the notes at my disposal on the
birds seen on the Mesopotamian front describe
any influence or effects of the War on birds,
but, since many observers remark on the
abundance of bird life, it may be assumed
that birds on this front were no less indifferent
to the noise of battle than elsewhere.

I have no information regarding the be-
haviour of birds on the AFRICAN battlefields.

140

IV— EFFECT OF THE WAR ON BIRDS

141

ID— MIGRATION IN WAR-TIME

A WRITER in Lectures pour Tous, in 1916,
declared that "the War had changed
all the habits of migrating birds/'
He stated that "the STORKS which make
their home in Alsace began to leave that
country a full fortnight before war was de-
clared/' and attributed this "to the noise
of the movement of the German artillery on
its way to attack France " ! He went on to
say: "In normal times nearly all the birds
of passage used to pass over France on their
way north or south, but the thunder of the
guns has changed all this. The route taken
by WOODCOCKS leaving England for warmer
climes is across the Channel into Brittany,
and then by way of the Loire, Charentes,
and Landes to the Pyrenees; and as these
birds do not have to cross the war zone, they
have kept to their old route throughout the
hostilities. But their brethren from Scan-

143

Effect of War on Birds

dinavia and Holland, who used to fly by way
of the Aisne and the mud lakes of Cham-
pagne, now make a long round by sea and
do not touch land until they arrive off the
coast of Brittany. SNIPE from Russia and
Poland wing their way for sunny climes by
way of the western coast of the Black Sea to
gain the Bosphorus, or else cross Greece and
Roumania. German and Danish SNIPE go
south by way of Italy, and the THRUSHES
escape the shrapnel of the front in France
by crossing Switzerland and making for
Italy. The WILD DUCKS of the eastern
counties of England, which used to fly over
the North Sea, have also a horror of battles,
and now fly north, then west, and then south
again, skirting the coast of Ireland. The
calendar of the migrations, which for thou-
sands of generations has been rigorously
kept, has since the war become more elastic,
and some birds, such as the MARTINS, have
renounced their return journey to the north
and remain in Tunis rearing their young "
(Daily Express, 22.iv.i6).

Another French zoologist, M. Cunisset-
144

PLATE 17. — "A STORK . . . acquired the habit of meeting our aeroplanes"

(p. 138).

[145

Migration in War-time

Carnot, pointed out in 1916 that in places
where fighting occurred the birds became
greatly disturbed, screeching and flying about
in all directions, unable to settle down any-
where, day and night. Among the migratory
birds, those which dwell south of the war
zone carried out their flight to the warm lands
in the customary direction, but began it
somewhat earlier than under normal condi-
tions. As regards migratory birds dwelling
north of the war zone, they skirted the line
of the front and, instead of flying through
France, flew through Switzerland and Italy.
For example, BLACKBIRDS, which from Ger-
many and Scandinavia fly southward annually
in huge flocks through Burgundy, did not
appear there. Similarly, no LARKS were seen
in October 1915. In Flanders and Holland
there were neither marsh nor water birds
(Times, Literary Supplement, 2g.vii.i6).

According to the observations of Russian
naturalists during the first year of the War,
JACKDAWS and ROOKS disappeared, LARKS
no longer sang in the fields, and even SPAR-
ROWS grew very scarce. The EAGLE, a con-
L 145

Effect of War on Birds

slant resident in the Carpathians, migrated
to the Balkans, and the wild PIGEON disap-
peared also. Ordinarily, birds in Central
Siberia gravitate during the spring from
south to north, in Eastern Siberia from
south-west to north-east, and in European
Russia from south-west to north-west. Since
military operations were proceeding exactly
in the region of these migratory routes, the
flights of birds were powerfully affected,
especially those of the STORK and SNIPE. An
extraordinary movement of GEESE north-
wards was reported, and this was attributed
to the military operations in progress in
Mitau and White Russia, which prevented
these birds from settling there ; and the same
explanation was given for the abnormal
number of DUCK which appeared on the
River Volkhov. Individual species of birds
which ordinarily carry out their migratory
flight through Poland appeared on the island
of (Esel. In the Tauride province an abun-
dance of every kind of bird was observed in
1915, particularly of those species which
migrate through the Carpathians. Those

146

Migration in War-time

birds whose nests were usually situated in
localities affected by the War were perforce
compelled to abandon their homes and mi-
grate to other places, thus evoking an in-
creased flight of individual kinds of birds
to certain spots (Times, Literary Supplement,
2Q.vii.i6).

In the autumn of 1914 large flocks of GULLS
were observed off Norfolk, flying in from the
North Sea in so wild and erratic a fashion as
to suggest that the explosions at sea had
disturbed them ; their appearance curiously
synchronised with reported sea-fights. Un-
usual flocks of STARLINGS were noticed in
Norfolk in September 1914, and their prema-
ture migration was attributed to the disturb-
ing factors of battle which had driven them
from the continental marshes (Zoologist, 1915,
p. 392). It was reported, in the summer of
1916, that thousands of small birds, appar-
ently scared many scores of miles from their
native homes, took refuge on American liners
(Times, 4.vii.i6); and the presence of a
STORK near Carnarvon in July elicited the
query as to whether this rare visitor had been

147

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

Migration in War-time

tions in France and Flanders. In any case,
it is a somewhat arbitrary assertion to state
that certain migration routes were deserted
when these very routes are themselves still
only problematical.

Such birds as were migrating during the
heavy anti-aircraft barrage of September
1917 and whose path across the moon-lit
sky led over London, must have been con-
siderably disturbed by the bursting of shells.
The raid periods in 1917 coincided with
the autumnal migration of such birds as the
WHIMBREL, but possibly they "rose to the
occasion " or somewhat diverted their course
on seeing the barrage from afar, for not a
single bird was found whose death could be
attributed to a shell splinter. Small birds,
if migrating on those nights, would probably
be travelling below the barrage, and Sep-
tember would be too early in the year for
many GEESE or DUCKS to be on their journey
south. Their passage over any bombarded
area in October or November would probably
be diverted in a similar manner if they
encountered a barrage on the way (Mr.

149 ':

Effect of War on Birds

Charles Dixon in The Manchester Guardian,
2g.xi.i7). So far from thinking that the
birds forsook their accustomed migration
routes, I believe that they continued to use
their aerial highways, undeterred by the
thunder of guns, the marching of troops,
and the din of battles taking place many
hundreds of feet below them.

Perhaps the abnormal amount of insect
food on the Western Front may have detained
a few of the migratory insectivorous birds
which habitually visit us, and it is possible
that Italy's intervention in the war may
have had some effect on the numbers of
the migratory visitants to Central Europe.
It has been stated that when the Aus-
trians invaded Italy they destroyed all the
"roccolos" so thickly scattered through-
out the compartimento of Venetia. They
cut down the groves of hornbeam (skilfully
planted and netted in such a way as to give
no chance of escape to any autumnal migrant
when once within the high green walls),
liberated the decoy-birds, and razed to the
ground the towers in which the " sportsmen "

150

Migration in War-time

were wont to conceal themselves from their
unsuspecting prey (Country Life, i.ii.ig).
Italian " sportsmen " are apt to kill any bird ;
her professional bird-catchers, in their "roc-
colo " decoys, take thousands of LINNETS
and insectivorous birds as they enter the
funnel of Italy on their annual emigration to
Africa. These men being otherwise engaged,
Europe may have benefited by having more
birds and less insect pests in consequence
(Manchester Guardian, 10 . vii .16). All things
considered, I think, however, that I am
justified in saying that there is at present no
definite proof that the course of migration was
seriously affected by the War.

An airman, who must have been an enthusi-
astic student of migration, made observations
regarding the height at which he met with
birds when in the air : SWALLOWS, he found,
preferred an altitude of 2,000 ft. ; WILD
DUCK, 5,000 ft. ; and flocks of PLOVER were
encountered at 6,500 ft. (Pall Mall Gazette,
ii.xi.i6). Pilots and men in observation
balloons agreed that they rarely saw birds
at a height of more than 3,000 feet ; but a

Effect of War on Birds

captain in the R.F.C., about March gth,
1918, ran into a flock of LAPWINGS at a
height of 6,500 feet, over the line at Hulloch
near Lens (Ibis, 1919, p. 74). Capt. Colling-
wood Ingram, in his paper " Notes on the
Height at which Birds Migrate," gives some
interesting figures obtained from airmen on
the Western Front : —

LAPWINGS were observed on fourteen occa-
sions at between 2,000 and 8,500 feet, the
height in the majority of cases being between
5,000 and 6,000 feet. A flock of five hundred
DUCK, or GEESE, was observed, on Novem-
ber 26th, 1915, at about 11,500 feet. Two
large birds, possibly CRANES, were met near
St. Omer, in August 1917, at 15,000 feet.
Birds resembling LINNETS were seen over
Bethune, on August 22nd, 1917, at a height of
10,000 feet. About fifty ROOKS, JACKDAWS,
or CROWS were noted over Lens, in March
1917, at 6,000 feet, and " six birds about the
size of ROOKS " over Arras, at 3,000 feet, on
July loth, 1918. STARLINGS and FIELD-
FARES (or REDWINGS) were observed at 3,000
feet in March 1917. Some species of SAND-

152

Migration in War-time

PIPER was met with over Arras, towards the
end of March 1917, at an elevation of 12,000
feet, and other Limicoline birds at 9,500 and
10,000 feet ; WHIMBREL were observed at 4,000
feet, and HERONS at between 2,500 and 3,000
feet (Ibis, 1919, pp. 321-5). War-time does
not offer the most favourable conditions for
the solution of the question at what height
birds fly when migrating, but the following
advertisement was published in February
1919: "Any notes on the flight of migira-
tory birds made in the air would be highly
appreciated. Where possible the species,
height, and velocity of flight, time of day,
and year would add greatly to value. Single
or even negative notes would be most accept-
able " (Times, n .ii .19). With the return of
peace and a more general use of the aeroplane
we may expect many interesting facts and
discoveries concerning the question of bird
migration, which is, at present, quite un-
solved.

153

ii— CHANGE OF HABIT IN BIRDS
DUE TO THE WAR

I AM not aware of any change of habit in
birds actually due to the War, unless
indeed their supreme indifference to the
noise of battle may be so described. SWAL-
LOWS are reported to have built freely in
trees in France when all buildings had been
levelled. An eye-witness described a poplar
tree, which had escaped being cut down by
the Germans in their retreat, in which there
were at least half a dozen nests, the lowest
being about 10 feet from the ground and
others wherever the birds could get a lodg-
ment (Scottish Naturalist, 1918, p. 21). The
occurrence of such nests is not unknown
(British Birds Magazine, vol. v. p. 143), though
this is the first occasion, as far as I know, that
trees have been freely (I can hardy say
habitually) used by SWALLOWS for nidifica-
tion. MAGPIES, in parts of Somme where

154

Change of Habit due to War

most of the large trees had been felled, nested
in quite small trees (Ibis, 1919, p. 59).

It is certainly remarkable that the vibra-
tion of gunfire in the vicinity of nests con-
taining incubating eggs did not destroy
them, nor even affect the embryos or the
young when hatched. I have already men-
tioned the case of a BLACKBIRD which reared
its brood in a nest built in a hedge only
twenty yards from two 9' 2-inch guns. This
is by no means an isolated case, as reference
to the preceding notes will show. That any-
thing so sensitive as an embryonic chick
should have been able to sustain with im-
punity the near discharge of a big gun is
certainly unexpected, and Nature, in her far-
seeing wisdom, can scarcely have foreseen the
exigencies that would be required of her in
this the most terrific war of all time.

The case of the BLACKCAP whose nest had
been blown sideways by shells and who laid
three pure white eggs in a second nest within
ten feet of the old one (Bird Notes and News,
vol. vii. p. i) is worthy of remark here, as it
is conceivable that this abnormally colourless

155

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

Change of Habit due to War

Barrage " anti-aircraft gun-stations. " The
beastly bird learnt to imitate the alarm whistle
to a nicety/' said the gun commander ; " on
several occasions he turned me out in pyjamas
and, when the crew had manned the gun,
gave vent to a decided chuckle " (Evening
Standard, i8.vi.i8). The COCKS and HENS
of a French farmyard are said to have learned
to make a noise exactly like that of a falling
"dud" shell, and it would indeed prove a
valuable addition to Darwin's instances of
domestic instincts if this imitation could be
shown to be transmitted as a fixed habit in
the HEN'S progeny (Times, 29.v.i6). It is
conceivable that birds bred within the battle
area and reared amongst all the turmoil of
war may have acquired an innate indifference
to terrific noises which they may impart to
their progeny, successive generations of which
might be expected, if wars continue, to be-
come progressively more indifferent to their
abnormal conditions. But this conception,
which is without any substantiation by ex-
perience, has still to be proved.
SEA-GULLS, rendered ravenous by hard

157

Effect of War on Birds

weather, are alleged to have attacked fisher-
men off Deal while making a record haul of
sprats in January 1917 : it was only with
considerable difficulty that the fishermen
were able to keep the GULLS at bay with their
oars (Globe, 23^.17). This temerity on the
part of the SEA-GULLS can perhaps hardly be
attributable to the War, unless, indeed, they
were infected with the war fever which per-
vaded the world.

In the autumn and winter of 1917-18,
when energetic attempts were made to plough
up more pasture land in this country, motor-
ploughs were extensively employed for the
purpose. One observer noticed that the
GULLS, normally the constant attendants of
the horse-plough, did not follow the motor-
ploughs, presumably on account of their
noise and smell (Field, iG.iii.igiS, p. 391).
Another observer, however, reported having
seen hundreds of GULLS following motor-
ploughs as unconcernedly as if they had been
of the old-fashioned kind (Field, 30.^.1918,
p. 447). It is, perhaps, worthy of remark
that under the new regime, when it has be-

158

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

Effect of War on Birds

hunter and by the spread of mankind into
their haunts. Nearer home, probably the
greatest effect of the War is yet to be seen as
regards birds. I am thinking of the de-
struction of forests and woods, sacrificed
broadcast for national needs. For a genera-
tion, at least, nothing but desolate areas will
take the places of what were in pre-war days
sanctuaries of wild life (Observer, 2i.iv.i8).
Already in 1917 an extension of the range of
the GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER in the
Tay area has been attributed to the cutting
down of the larger and thicker woods for war
purposes, the WOODPECKERS having been
driven into the smaller woods which fill many
of the more remote glens (Scottish Naturalist,
1916, p. 94). Similar changes of habitat, if
not of habit, may be expected ; all of them
due, more or less, to the exigencies of the
war. There can be no doubt that the
absence of game-keepers from many estates
has favoured an increase of "vermin/' both
four-footed and winged. From many dis-
tricts it has already been reported that several
species of predatory birds, which were in

160

Change of Habit due to War

pre-war days comparatively rare or but
locally prescribed, have appeared in unusual
haunts. Mr. W. Beach Thomas asks : "Is
it an accident, or a result of the keeper's
absence, that BITTERNS have bred on the
east coast during the period of the war ? "
(Daily Mail, 22.1.19). It is to be hoped
that the powers conferred on County Coun-
cils by our Wild Birds Protection Acts will
be utilised to continue any benefits which
our rarer birds may have enjoyed owing to
the absence of their persecutors during the
War. The effects of increased cultivation
should, as regards this country, be beneficial
not only to graminivorous but also to in-
sectivorous birds ; but there is no reason to
suppose that any changes of this kind will
immediately influence the habits of birds.
In any case, it is imperative that the protec-
tion of birds, as at present enforced by our
Game Laws and Wild Birds Protection Acts,
should not be withdrawn, but rather increased,
seeing that our best crop protectors are the
Insectivorous birds.

161

V— CONCLUSION

163

12— ORNITHOLOGISTS KILLED IN
THE WAR

IN conclusion, a passing tribute is due to
those British ornithologists who, with
thousands of other valiant soldiers,
have given their lives for King and Country.
In days to come mankind will be astounded
by the grand total of human lives sacrificed
In the War. At present we have figures
for our own losses, to which we must add
the more or less detailed statistics of losses
sustained by our allies and our enemies;
this vast total will be swelled still further by
those who, though they have not fallen in
actual battle, have perished as a direct con-
sequence of the War. Shell and bullet,
torpedo and gas, are reckoned as some of the
weapons of war ; accidental explosions, ship-
wreck, massacres, famine and disease, must
be regarded as its contingencies. A Member
of Parliament stated early in 1918 that from

"

Conclusion

ten to twelve millions had been killed, and
that forty-four millions had been maimed
and shattered in mind and body by the War
(Daily Mail, io.v.i8).

To give the roll of honour, even if it was
possible, of all the British lovers of birds
who fell in the War would occupy many
pages, but a fairly complete list could prob-
ably be compiled from the columns of such
publications as The Field, The Illustrated Sport-
ing and Dramatic News, British Birds Maga-
zine, The Zoologist, The Ibis, and Bird Notes
and News. I propose, however, only to re-
cord the names of those who were particularly
well known on account of their contributions
to ornithology, and whose deaths, often in
the prime of their lives and at the commence-
ment of promising scientific careers, are
therefore the more to be deplored :

C. J. Alexander (October 4th~5th, 1917);
Commander Hon. R. Bridgeman (January

1917) ; Lord Brabourne (March I2th, 1915) ;
Captain Sydney F. Brock (November nth,

1918) ; Captain J. C. Crowley (September nth,
1916) ; Eric Dunlop (May igth, 1917) ; Cap-

166

Ornithologists killed in the War

tain Leonard Gray (July sist, 1917) ; Lieu-
tenant-Colonel H. H. Harrington (March 8th,
1916) ; Lieutenant-Colonel R. R. Horsburgh
(July nth, 1916); Captain Hon. Gerald
Legge (August gth, 1915); Captain Lord
Lucas (November 4th, 1916); Lieutenant-
Colonel Aymer Maxwell (October 8th, 1914) ;
Lieutenant L. N. G. Ramsay (March 2ist,
1916) ; Captain F. C. Selous (January 4th,
1917) ; Colonel Charles Stonham (Janu-
ary sist, 1916) ; George Stout (Novem-
ber 13th, 1916); 2nd Lieutenant G. V.
Webster (August 4th, 1917); Major H. T.
Whitehead (September 26th, 1915); Lieu-
tenant R. B. Woosnam (June 4th, 1915).

The librarian of the Zoological Society of
London, H. Peavot (April 2ist, 1917), and
the assistant librarian of the Linnaean Society,
E. E. Riseley (August ist, 1917), fell in action
in France ; and I must not omit to record
the loss to ornithological art in the deaths of
2nd Lieutenant O. Murray-Dixon (April loth,
1917) and Frank Southgate (February 23rd,
1916).

Doubtless our enemies' losses in the scien-
167

Conclusion

tific ranks have been as heavy as our own. If
the outcome of this — the world's greatest War
— Is to be a permanent Peace, it will be as
welcome to scientists as to mankind in gene-
ral: science can only pursue her course
by a mutual and international exchange of
thought and must always conserve an atti-
tude of mind abhorrent to such brutal acts
as wars. Nature, it is true, is at times
cruel ; we human beings, who are only her
creatures, but endowed with generations of
education, should strive, puny though our
efforts may be, to eliminate her cruelties and
cultivate her beauties until she becomes
sublime.

We have seen that the birds were indif-
ferent to the noise of battle, and that migra-
tion went on uninterrupted by the struggle
of mankind. The greeting card of the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds, issued at
Christmas 1917, was a picture of a ROBIN
sitting on a snow-wreathed identification
cross behind the lines ; the following verses,
which accompanied the picture, form a fitting
ending to these Notes on Birds and the War :

168

Ornithologists killed in the War

A wooden cross alone may show

A hero's grave ; but this we know,
In Summer's warmth and Winter's cold,
In Autumn, when the leaves turn gold,
In Spring, when new life bursts from old,

God sends His messengers of love to seek the spot,

And tell us that the hero's grave is ne'e* forgot.

169

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