WAR AND BIRDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17078, 29 January 1916, Page 13

WAR AND BIRDS.

Such reports as have been received thus far indicate that the war will have comparatively little, effect on birds. Storks, owls, swallows and other birds that nest about buildings, having found the accustomed home destroyed, have sought other quarters; and game birds in France have displayed an unwonted tameness, owing to omission of the usual hunting; but a vast majority of wild birds have followed their ordinary habits, regardless of changed conditions. Woods daily riddled with bullets resound with the songs of nightinfales, thrushes and blackbirds; after erce night engagements in which artillery and infantry have taken heavy toll of human life, at dawn the usual peaceful chorus has been heard floating over the corpse-strewn battlefield; pheasant* and partridges have been seen strutting unconcernedly about an orchard situated directly between the opposing lines and often swept by rifle and artillery fire; and tho song of a soaring skylark has been heard in a moment's cessation of the thunder and cannonading. As fearful as the war seems to us, to the birds it brings no greater cause for anxiety and terror than the constant war they endure at the hands of man in our times of peace. Rather have they shown less fear than ordinarily, nesting in trenches among the soldiers and even feeding from the hands of .their late enemies.—Henry Oldys.