THE BIRDS OF LONDON 185 



amongst them traces of many breeds and will find 

 nearly all the colours represented. The blue-rock is, 

 however, the predominant type and there is little 

 doubt that if uninterrupted it would be only a 

 question of time till it extinguished all minor 

 peculiarities. 



One result of the crowding of buildings in the 

 central parts of London is that winged insect life 

 is driven away, and as it has failed the swallows 

 have retreated to the suburban fringes of London. 

 The swallow, like the rook, has no objection to town 

 life in itself, but insect food must be abundant to 

 enable it to thrive. Early last September, great 

 numbers of swallows were to be seen in the Crystal 

 Palace neighbourhood circling high up in the air 

 previous to their annual flight. For some days 

 previously they were to be noticed from the South 

 Eastern Railway, between St. John's and Grove 

 Park stations, perched together in groups on every 

 available roosting-place and chattering loudly, as 

 they always do in these yearly meetings. 



The swallow breeds freely round London. It is 

 indeed curious to see the attachment of this shy 

 gentle bird to the places frequented by man and 

 the buildings used by him. The rafters of a roomy 

 shed is the place which, above all others, the swallow 

 loves to build in ; failing this he is content with a 

 place under the eaves or he will make shift as best 

 he can with any other corner about the house. 

 Like the sparrow the swallow has always been with 

 us, and he probably twittered from his clay-built 

 nest beneath the roof-tree of our Aryan forefathers ; 

 he has clung to us through all the varying phases 

 of our architectural progress, and he takes to the 



