CROWS IN LONDON 23 



sorrow ' is an old saying. He is, they say, a 

 robber and a teaser, dangerous to the ornamental 

 water-fowl in the breeding season, a great per- 

 secutor of the wood-pigeons, and in summer 

 never happy unless he has a pigeon's egg in his 

 beak. It strikes one forcibly that this is not a 

 faithful portrait that the magpie has been 

 painted all black, instead of black and white as 

 nature made him. At all events, we know 

 that during the first two or three decades of the 

 present century there was an abundant and 

 varied wild bird life in the royal parks, and that 

 at the same time the magpies were more 

 numerous there than they are now known to 

 be in any forest or wild place in England. 



The jay does not inhabit any of the inner 

 parks and open spaces ; nor is there any evidence 

 of its having been a resident London species at 

 any time. But it is found in the most rural 

 parts and in the wooded outskirts of the metro- 

 polis. Its haunts will be mentioned in the chap- 

 ters descriptive of the parks and open spaces. 



There is no strong prejudice against the jay 

 among the park keepers, and I am glad to know 

 that, in two or three parks, attempts will be 

 made shortly to introduce this most beautiful 



