BIRDS IN LONDON 335 



dens, and often in the oaks and elms of suburban fields. 

 They are long-lived birds, so that their numbers are not 

 dependent on numerous families ; and it is probable that 

 they are recruited from time to time by refugees from the 

 country. Their snarling caw is a very familiar sound in all 

 parts of London, especially in early spring, when they wander 

 about the town in quest of attractive nesting-quarters. The 

 jackdaws which still frequent one corner of Kensington 

 Gardens are manifestly afraid of them ; and they are great 

 pests to the waterfowl which breed on the lakes in the parks. 

 But they are a bold and interesting feature of wild life in 

 London ; and their lean forms hunched on a tree-top bring 

 welcome associations of the lonely marsh and mountain to 

 many prosaic squares and dull riverside fields. 



Missel-thrushes are common now in London in the same 

 weeks of early spring when the crows go cawing and wander- 

 ing from park to square. They have a regular habit of 

 settling close to houses for the nesting season, apparently for 

 the purpose of seeking protection from the crows. In the 

 country crows usually avoid the near neighbourhood of man ; 

 and the discovery that this rule does not apply to London is 

 very likely the reason why missel-thrushes seem never to 

 nest in the central parks and gardens, though they often 

 appear in them for a few days in early spring. They visit 

 Hyde Park from time to time, and almost outsing the song- 

 thrushes ; and at the end of March 1 909 a missel-thrush settled 

 for two or three days in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and sang so 

 loud and sweetly at dawn that wondering sleepers put out their 

 heads to listen. But the singer found no mate, and departed 

 for fields which were wider. Song-thrushes and blackbirds 

 are permanent residents in all the parks and many of the 

 larger London gardens, and sing with as much freedom as 

 the birds on any country lawn. Birds attached to a single 



