THE, BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 
All others separate into pairs for the breeding season. In 
London the Sparrow breeds almost all the year through, 
or at all events endeavours to doso. ‘Toa large extent the 
artificial economy of the House Sparrow may be studied 
from almost every window in the Metropolis ; there is 
not an open space where its actions may not be observed 
during all the hours of daylight. Fearlessly it searches 
for food in the busiest thoroughfares, its meals interrupted 
a thousand times a day by the ceaseless traffic, its life 
in jeopardy at almost every moment. ‘The nature of its 
food must also have changed to an amazing extent, so 
much so that the bird can now, and does, subsist upon 
almost everything eatable. Its cheery chirp remains the 
same in town and country alike; but its social tendencies 
seem to have increased. For instance, the gathering 
of these birds towards evening in a certain tree, 
especially in autumn, where they keep up a twittering 
babel until darkness disperses them to their roosting- 
places, seems to be peculiar to London. It speaks well 
for the Sparrow’s fertility and adaptability to so many 
varied conditions of life as the vast Metropolis presents 
that it should be able to maintain its numbers. Enemies 
and fatal contingencies surround it. Not the least 
serious of these are cats and rats, and in one or two places 
owls. Almost any day in summer on the banks of the 
outlet to the Serpentine in Hyde Park you may stand 
and watch the rats prey upon the young Sparrows that are 
attracted by the crumbs thrown to them by the park 
loungers. I have here seen half a dozen young Sparrows 
seized and carried off by rats, scarcely an arm’s-length 
away from where I was standing, i in the course of half an 
hour. ‘The rats come out of the beds of plants and seize 
the unsuspecting birds in the most impudent manner. 
London’s cats are also great destroyers of this bird, as 
they are of many other more interesting species, especially 
in the parks, and I for one should like to see them banished 
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