SHELLED A SINGING CANARY

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16144, 23 February 1918, Page 7

SHELLED A SINGING CANARY

V How one little canary bird caused consternation among an entire division of British troops, and had to be killed with artillery is told by Dr. Robert Davis, recently arrived in the United States to lecture at the -officers' training camps on activities of the Red Cross in Europe. . "For more than a month, on a northern sector of the line, the British had been secretly mining beneath the German trenches," 6aid Dr. Davis. "The work was almost complete. During the operations several canary birds were, as usual, kept in tie excavation, to warn the workers of the presence of fire damp, which is fatal to the birds. One little songster, however, escaped from its job, flew into the middle of No Man's Land, and, alighting on a bush, began to sing. "Consternation reigned in the British lines. If the bird should be discovered by the Germans, the work of weeks would go for naught, as the enemy could easily interpret the meaning of its presence, and prepare to combat the sapping operations. The infantry was immediately ordered to open fire on the canary to destroy it. But it seemed to bear a charmed life. Even the sharpshooters failed to bring it down, aa it dropped from twig to twig. Finally the artillery had to be called on. A trench gun with a well-timed shell blew the bird and the tush and the sons nothingness." *