336 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



spot generally sing earlier and more vigorously than their 

 wandering kindred ; they are free from the hardships and 

 distractions of a vagabond life, and pair and breed earlier in 

 spring. The song of the thrushes in December fills Hyde 

 Park with a sense of spring in spite of its grey fogs ; and they 

 are unusually musical in and about the Zoological Gardens, 

 where they can pick comfortably among the pens and shrub- 

 beries, and prosper on fragments of bun. Blackbirds are 

 heard in London in March more often in proportion to their 

 numbers than in the country. The plague of cats makes it 

 difficult for London thrushes and blackbirds to bring up a 

 brood in safety, but otherwise their life is a comfortable one. 

 Robins are bolder birds than thrushes and blackbirds ; but 

 they are less numerous in London owing to the scarcity of 

 secure nesting-places. They naturally build in open holes 

 on sloping banks, within a few feet of the ground ; and such 

 sites in London are perpetually exposed to the attacks both 

 of cats and rats. Robins are birds of woodland tastes, 

 for all their familiarity with man, and cannot make them- 

 selves at home among chimney-pots and paving-stones, as 

 the sparrows do. Hedge-sparrows are rather commoner than 

 robins in the London parks ; and this seems due to their 

 habit of nesting in thick bushes, which protect them better 

 from their four-footed enemies. From early autumn until 

 summer, the sweetly piercing song of the robin can be heard 

 sparingly in the more thickly grown portions of the London 

 parks, and in some of the gardens and squares ; but it is less 

 constant, especially from January onwards, than the shriller 

 and more laboured ditty of the hedge-sparrow. Chaffinches 

 are no more than occasional visitors to central London ; 

 though they are not uncommonly seen or heard among the 

 park trees, they are unlikely to be found in the same place 

 next day. Since they abound in almost every country district, 



