1 8 London Birds. 



the Leyden Museum is the top of a telegraph post 

 of hard teak, brought from Sumatra, with four or 

 five deep holes drilled round the support of the wire 

 by a little black and white fellow with a red cap, 

 almost identical with our own London " Spotted 

 Woodpecker." 



His object in drilling the holes was, no doubt, to 

 solve the mystery of the music of the wires, which 

 seems as great a puzzle to four-legged creatures as 

 it is to birds and children ; for in parts of Norway 

 much mischief is done to the telegraphs by bears, 

 which, on the principle that " where there is smoke 

 there is fire," take for granted that where there is a 

 " hum " there must be a bee, and roll away the rocks 

 piled up to keep the posts in their places to get at 

 the hidden honey. 



Perhaps the most remarkable feature of recent 

 London ornithology has been the increase in the 

 number of Wood Pigeons. When this sketch was 

 first published, not very long ago, it was men- 

 tioned as worth noticing that the " deep mellow 

 crush " of their note had begun to 



" Make music which sweetened the calm " 



of Kensington Gardens, where one or two pairs had 

 then lately settled. Now Wood Pigeons nest by 

 dozens in all the parks, and it is a common thing 

 to see fifteen or twenty together in one tree. 



In our complex civilisation dangers to life and 

 health crop up in such unexpected quarters that it 

 is difficult to say where safety lies. Perhaps, though, 

 the last of our London neighbours whom we should 

 be inclined to suspect of dangerous proclivities, would 

 be the masterless Pigeons, which swarm in all direc- 

 tions. 



