124 BIRDS IX LONDON 



admired, until the end of March last year (1897), 

 having meanwhile found a mate, and was then 

 killed by a cat. 



The robin, although common as ever in all 

 the more rural parts of London — the suljurban 

 districts where there are gardens with shrul:)S 

 and trees — is now growing sadly scarce every- 

 where in the interior of tlie metropolis. In 

 1865 the late Shirley Hibberd wrote that this 

 bird was very common in London : ' Eobins 

 are seen among the hay-carts at Whitechapel, 

 Smithfield, and Cumberland Markets, in all the 

 squares, in Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, and 

 other gardens, in the open roadway of Farring- 

 don Street, Ludgate Hill, the Strand, and 

 Blackfriars Eoad ; nay, I once saw a robin on 

 a lovely autumn afternoon perch upon the 

 edge of a gravestone in St. Paul's Churchyard 

 and trill out a carol as sweetly as in any rural 

 nook at home.' 



Now the robin has long vanished from all 

 these public places, even from the squares that 

 are green, and that he is becoming very scarce 

 in all the interior parks I shall have occasion to 

 show in later chapters. It is a great pity that 



