42 BIRDS IN LONDON 



Let us now return to the nobler bird, the 

 subject of this chapter. 



It would not, I imagine, be difficult for one 

 who had the time to count the London crows ; 

 those I am accustomed to see number about 

 twenty, and I should not be surprised to learn 

 that as many as forty crows frequent inner 

 London. But with the exception of two, or 

 perhaps three pairs, they do not now breed in 

 London, but have their nesting-haunts in woods 

 west, north, and east of the metropolis. These 

 breeders on the outskirts bring the young they 

 succeed in rearing to the parks, from which they 

 have themselves in some cases been expelled, 

 and the tradition is thus kept up. Most of the 

 birds appear to fly over London every day, 

 paying long visits on their way to Eegent's Park, 

 Holland Park, the central parks, and Battersea 

 Park. As their movements are very regular it 

 would be possible to mark their various routes 

 on a map of the metropolis. 



Mr. W. H. Tuck, writing to me about the 

 carrion crow, says : ' For many years, when 

 living in Kensington, several pairs of crows 

 going from N.E. to S.W. passed at daybreak 

 over my house on their way to the Thames 



