190 Bishop, Birds in the Markets of Southern Europe. [ April 



noted in short walks, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Starlings and several 

 species of Tits, and none of the vegetation showed any sign of 

 injury by insects. 



We reached England in early June, but except for a short trip 

 to Flamboro Head in Yorkshire, and a couple of days at South- 

 ampton, during which we visited the New Forest, our time was 

 spent in London, and even in London Wood Pigeons were common 

 in the parks. But one cannot visit rural England at all, either by 

 train, motor, carriage or on foot, without being impressed by the 

 abundance of birds; birds are everywhere. Lapwings fly out of 

 almost every field, in spite of the fact that their eggs have been 

 sold as delicacies for generations, Skylarks are constantly in the 

 air. Rooks dot the landscape with black, and thousands of sea-birds 

 line the cliffs at Flamboro Head although their eggs are collected 

 each day. My impressions at the conclusion of our long journey, 

 as I wrote them at the time, were that " birds are quite as abundant 

 in Europe and especially in England as with us, and I have been 

 greatly impressed by the absence of insects and worms everywhere, 

 along the roadsides, in the parks and woods and in the fields. No 

 worms hanging from the trees, no mosquitoes, no aphides on the 

 roses, and nothing showing signs of having been eaten; all so 

 different from our country in Jime." 



Why this is so, that after the great slaughter in fall and winter 

 birds are so abundant in spring and summer I cannot explain, 

 but both of us commented on the fact that we almost never saw a 

 cat. 



