54 BIRDS IN LONDON 



distances, only to mount again with an exulting 

 cry, to soar beyond the highest tower or pinnacle, 

 and seem at that vast height no bigger than a 

 swift in size w r atching him thus, an image of 

 the structure over and around which he disported 

 himself so gloriously has been formed its vast- 

 ness, stability, and perfect proportions and has 

 remained thereafter a vivid picture in my mind. 

 How 7 much would be lost to the sculptured 

 west front of Wells Cathedral, the soaring spire 

 of Salisbury, the noble roof and towers of York 

 Minster and of Canterbury, if the jackdaws 

 were not there ! I know that, compared with 

 the images I retain of many daw-haunted cathe- 

 drals and castles in the provinces, those of the 

 cathedrals and other great buildings in London 

 have in my mind a somewhat dim and blurred 

 appearance. It is a pity that, before consenting 

 to rebuild St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir Christopher 

 Wren did not make the perpetual maintenance 

 of a colony of jackdaws a condition. And if he 

 had bargained with posterity for a pair or two 

 of peregrine falcons and kestrels, his glory at the 

 present time would have been greater. 



There are, I believe, about sixteen hundred 

 churches in London ; probably not more than 



