122 BIIWS IN LONDON 



of orint1iol(\f?ical science, what they had 

 eaten ! 



Between the starhnc::^ and the next m order, 

 the blackbird, there is again a very great 

 difference with regard to numbers. The former 

 counts thousands, the Latter hundreds. Be- 

 tween l:)lackbird and song-thrush, or throstle, 

 there is not a wide difference, l)ut if we take 

 the whole of London, the l)lackbird is much 

 more numerous. After these two, at a consider- 

 able distance, comes the robin. In suburban 

 rounds and orardens these three common 

 species are equally abundant. But in these 

 same private places, which ring the metropolis 

 round with innumeral)le small green refuges, 

 or sanctuaries, several other species which are 

 dying out in the parks and open spaces of inner 

 London are also common — wren, hedge-sparrow, 

 blue, cole, and great tits, chaffinch, and green- 

 finch — and of these no more need be said in this 

 chapter. 



As we have seen, there is always a great 

 interest shown (by the collector especially) 

 in that not very rare phenomenon, an abnor- 

 mally white bird. But in London the bird- 



