328 BIRDS IN LONDON 



for neighbours stoats and weasels, carrion crows, 

 jays, and owls. Even in the daytime you will find 

 the wood-owl dozing in the deep twilight of a 

 holly-bush growing in the shade of a huge oak 

 or elm. High up on the trees at least half a 

 dozen pairs of carrion crows have their nests ; 

 and occasionally all the birds gather at one 

 spot and fill the entire wood with their tremen- 

 dous excited cries. A dozen of these birds, 

 when they let themselves go, will create a greater 

 uproar than a hundred cawing rooks. 



Here, too, the rabbit keeps his place in spite 

 of so many enemies ; and to those named must 

 be added tlie domestic cat. I myself have seen 

 puss returning to the house carrying a half-grown 

 young rabbit to her kittens. 



The moorhen and wood-pigeon also flourish, 

 and in a still greater degree the missel- 

 thrush, throstle, and blackbird. In this wood I 

 have counted forty- three breeding species ; and 

 not only is the variety great, l)ut many of our 

 best songsters, residents and migrants, are so 

 numerous that at certain times in spring, when 

 birds are most vocal, you may hear at this spot 

 as fine a concert of sweet voices as in any wood 

 ill England. 



