58 BIRDS IN LONDON 



and invitation to fly was at last sounded, and 

 hastily responded to We have not come to stay 

 we are off good-bye so-long -farewell and 

 forthwith they rose up and flew away, probably 

 in search of fresher woods and less trodden 

 pastures than those of Clissold Park. 



There are also to be met with in London a 

 few solitary vagrant daws which in most cases 

 are probably birds escaped from captivity. 

 Close to my home a daw of this description 

 appears every morning at the house of a friend 

 and demands his breakfast with loud taps on the 

 window-pane. The generous treatment he has 

 received has caused him to abandon his first 

 suspicious attitude ; he now flies boldly into the 

 house and explores the rooms, and is specially 

 interested in the objects on the dressing-table. 

 Articles of jewellery are carefully put out of sight 

 when he makes a call. 



My friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Melford, of 

 Fulham, are probably responsible for the exist- 

 ence in London of a good number of wandering 

 solitary jackdaws. They cherish a wonderful 

 admiration and affection towards all the mem- 

 bers of the crow family, and have had num- 

 berless daws, jays, and pies as pets, or rather 



