THE BIEDS AND THE BOOK 1 



Here then, it seemed, was a subject which 

 it might be for the advantage of the bird-lovers 

 in London to consider ; and I write in the con- 

 viction that there are as many Londoners who 

 love the sight and sound of wild bird life as 

 there are who find refreshment in trees and 

 grass and flowers, who are made glad by the 

 sight of a blue sky, to whom the sunshine is 

 sweet and pleasant to behold. 



In going about London, after my mind had 

 begun to dwell on this subject, I was frequently 

 amused, and sometimes teased, by the sight and 

 sound of the everywhere-present multitudinous 

 sparrow. In London there are no grain-growers 

 and market-gardeners, consequently there is no 

 tiresome sparrow question, and no sparrow-clubs 

 to vex the tender-hearted. These sparrows were 

 not to be thought about in their relation to 

 agriculture, but were simply little birds, too 

 often, in many a weary mile, in many an 

 unlovely district, the only representatives of the 

 avian class, flying to and fro, chirping and 

 chirruping from dawn to dark ; nor birds only : 

 I had them also for butterflies, seen sometimes 

 in crowds and clouds, as in the tropics, with no 



