LONDON BIKDS 5 



or Wood Pigeon it would soon starve, for every one 

 of the timid little creatures which are its natural 

 food would take good care to keep out of sight till 

 the danger was past; and so as an oar is muffled 

 to deaden the splash Providence has softened to 

 something like a loose fringe of down the front of the 

 quill. This makes the Owl's flight, as every one who 

 has watched a Barn Owl ' mousing ' knows, perfectly 

 silent. 



Of the ' Passeres,' the enormous order into which 

 are jumbled all which cannot be classed as birds of 

 prey or poultry, and which, as a rule, neither climb, 

 nor wade, nor swim we have a very respectable party 

 constantly in London. Not less than seventeen or 

 eighteen appear in the list of birds seen within the 

 year referred to at the beginning of the chapter, and 

 this does not of course nearly exhaust the number of 

 common visitors. 



First come the Thrushes the most timid, perhaps, 

 of all ; but, by one of the apparent contradictions with 

 which all classifications abound, nearly related to the 

 Shrikes, which are the connecting-link between the 

 Passeres and the birds of prey, and, in their own degree, 

 scarcely less tyrants than the Eagles themselves. 

 Song- thrushes are fairly common in Kensington 

 Gardens and St. James's Park, where they nest regu- 

 larly, and sing beautifully at times ; though, as a rule, 

 they are very shy. During the middle of the day they 

 manage, to a great extent, to keep out of sight ; and it 

 is not often, when many people are about, that they 



