Mt. Pleasant Pyramid | 1919-04-11 | Page 4 | Local News

A writer in a London magazine tells us that at first the birds .of France and Belgium were pantic-stricken pantic-stricken by war. Six t or seven months after the war began an unusual un-usual number of birds were observed observ-ed in England of species which at the same time had become very scarce in France. But after a few months the birds, just as the soldiers do, adapted themselves them-selves to the condition of war. Thy came near to the armies with the greatest confidence? Ground birds made their nest and reared their young in thistle patches in No-Mans-Land. , The trenches becameDverrun with rats and mice, and consequently owls and kestrels (a species of hawk)' made their appearances and hunted fearleessly in the trenches them-'" selves. And the kestrels sometimes built their nests in the barbed wire entanglements. A lark in one of the severest bomb-bardments bomb-bardments at Verdum hovered above the French troops and sang cheer- fully. The birds seemed to become accustomed to the sound of heavy artillery and to pay it little attention. atten-tion. Different birds called to give warning to the approach of airplanes: They evidently heard the sounds of the planes before human ears could distinguish them. Storks became interested in the airplanes and would sometimes alight on the machines that were coming down from a flight. The birds which so bravely endured endur-ed the terrors of war will probably be delighteed to have their homes in peace again.