52 BIRDS IN LONDON 



CHAPTER IV 



THE LONDON DAW 



Rarity of the daw in London Pigeons and daws compared 

 ./Esthetic value of the daw as a cathedral bird Kensington 

 Palace daws ; their disposition and habits Friendship with 

 rooks Wandering daws at Clissold Park Solitary daws 

 Mr. Mark Melford's birds Rescue of a hundred daws The 

 strange history of an egg- stealing daw White daws White 

 ravens Willughby's speculations A suggestion. 



IT is somewhat curious to find that the jackdaw 

 is an extremely rare bird in London that, in 

 fact, with the exception of a small colony at one 

 spot, he is almost non-existent. At Eichmond 

 Park, where pheasants (and the gamekeeper's 

 traditions) are preserved, he was sometimes shot 

 in the breeding season ; but in the metropolis, 

 so far as I know, he has never been persecuted. 

 Yet there are few birds, certainly no member of 

 the crow family, seemingly so well adapted to a 

 London life as this species. Throughout the 

 kingdom he is a familiar town bird ; in one 

 English cathedral over a hundred pairs have 



