Some London Birds 



parks. His modern representative boldly returns 

 one's gaze. Indeed, one autumn I saw a dab- 

 chick — a bird of the year, as was evident from 

 his still downy head — swim boldly under the 

 bridge at St. James's Park, unmoved by the 

 presence of spectators, who hailed it as " a 

 dear little duck." 



The crowning joy of the London bird-lover 

 has, of course, been the accession of the black- 

 headed gulls in winter, though whether the 

 birds already in possession of the park waters 

 were equally pleased with their advent is another 

 matter. However, these beautiful, noisy birds 

 are the greatest of popular favourites while 

 they stay, even where there is competition, 

 and on the river they enjoy almost undivided 

 patronage ; I say almost, for during the last 

 two or three years the big herring-gulls have 

 got wind of the good living in London, and 

 come up to practise piracy on their smaller 

 relatives. Herein is the Nemesis of the latter 

 for robbing the anciently-established park ducks ; 

 but from the nature-lover's point of view the 

 big gulls are the best acquisition of all, their 

 wide sweep of wing and slow stately flight 

 giving a touch of wildness to the scene which 

 the little black - headed species cannot rival. 

 There have been for some time a few herring- 

 gulls, bred from the pinioned birds in the parks, 



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