Birds and Noise There is some evidence that the noises
of war have driven some of the birds from the coast to inland places. Oyster- catchers, for example, have been seen and, alas! shot among the pheasants along the valley of the Lea, a good sixty miles from the sea. Birds seem to differ greatly in their response to noise. There is one piece of waste land to which all dud shells from the neighbourhood are conveyed and exploded. The noise is such that warnings are sent to nervous people living two miles away. Nevertheless, round the broad and deep crater where the detona- tion is done, birds, both game and other, abound ; and in another place pheasants pay no regard at all to practice at a rifle range. On the other hand, ducks are as sensitive as pheasants are in- sensate. On the edge of an ornamental lake, where a . number of fancy ducks were kept, stood a few stag-headed trees that were removed by explosives. The noise drove the ducks away and most of them never returned. They included two mandarins, one of which was shot much later by a fanner who was waiting for wood-pigeons. When he picked the bird he was utterly amazed by the glory of the plumage and even sorry for the . destruction. Enquiry as to what this gorgeous creature could be brought out the story of the flight from the noisy, deserted lake. A cock mandarin is perhaps the most brilliant of all the tribe of duck, various and bright though the feathers of the genus are wont to be.
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