This is how The Sphere reported on the fate of small birds in wartime, here in March 1919: ?Amid the ruins of the house these men rescued a bird-cage undamaged and the bird within unhurt. Birds in the destroyed or deserted houses did not always meet with such a happy fate. During the evacuation of a little village, not far from Noyon, a family were compelled to leave behind them their canary. With tears in their eyes they came to the officer in charge and asked him to do what he could for their pet. Visiting the house a day or so later to see after the bird, the officer found the cage knocked over, the door open, a few feathers and a little pink blood upon the woodwork. That was all.?