304 BIliDS IX LONDON 



CHAPTER XVI 



lilKDS FOR LONDON 



Restoration of the rook — The Gray's Inn rookery — Suc^gestions 

 — On attractrng rooks — Temple Gardens rooker}^ — Attempt 

 to establisli a rookerj^ at CHssold Park — A new colony of 

 daws — Hawks — Domestic pigeons — An abuse — Stock-dove 

 and turtle -dove — Ornamental water-fowl, pinioned and 

 unpinioned — Suggestions^ — ^AYild water-fowl in the parks — 

 Small birds for London — Missel-thrush — Nuthatch — Wren 

 — Loudness a merit — Summer visitants to London — King- 

 fisher — Hard-billed birds — A use for the park sparrows — 

 Natural checks — A sanctuary described. 



My purpose in this chapter is to make a few 

 suggestions as to the species which may be 

 introduced or restored with a fair prospect of 

 success, and which would form a valuable addi- 

 tion to the metropolitan wild bird life. The 

 species to be mentioned here liave very nearly 

 all been resident, some of them very common, in 

 former years ; most of them survive on the 

 borders of London, and some still linger in 

 diminished numbers in a tew of the interior open 

 .spaces. 



