36 LONDON BIEDS 



and noisy Geese, ' many in sorts/ crowding round the 

 one black opening in the snow- covered ice had been, 

 until the yellow fog came on to bring it, without 

 possibility of mistake, home to London, a presentment 

 in miniature of a winter scene in Finland. Half- 

 starved Larks and Finches in unusual numbers hung 

 about disconsolately, and Black-headed Gulls by 

 scores, and in lesser numbers Herring Gulls, came in 

 from the river, with the punctuality of beggars to the 

 convent gate, for the daily dole of fish served out by 

 their almoner from the keeper's lodge. 



The Jack Snipe has been expressly developed for the 

 education of small-boy sportsmen, and is a beautiful 

 illustration of the adaptation of means to ends. Un- 

 like its larger cousin the 'common Snipe,' it may be 

 shot at day after day, and two or three times a day, 

 without taking offence, and leaving the wet corner by 

 the brook to which it has taken a fancy. 



It has never been known to breed in England, and, 

 until Mr. Wooley discovered it in Lapland, its nesting- 

 place was as much a mystery as is still the nesting- 

 place of the Knot and one or two other familiar birds. 



A common Snipe was picked up alive in Trafalgar 

 Square in December 1898. It too had probably flown 

 against a telegraph wire, and was for the moment 

 stunned; but seemed very little the worse for the 

 accident. It was turned out with a clipped wing in 

 the park, and very shortly afterwards was to be seen 

 contentedly boring in the mud at the edge of the 

 ornamental water. 



