RECENT COLONISTS 93 



end of summer in their favourite parks that it is 

 easy for any person, by throwing a few handfuls 

 of strain, to attract as many as twenty or thirty 

 of them to his feet. Their tameness is wonderful, 

 and they are delightful to look at, although so 

 stout of figure. Considering their enormous 

 appetites, their portliness seems only natural. 

 But a full habit does not detract from their 

 beauty ; they remind us of some of our dearest 

 lady friends, who in spite of their two score or 

 more summers, and largeness where the maiden 

 is slim, have somehow retained loveliness and 

 grace. We have seen that the London wood- 

 pigeon, like the London crow, occasionally 

 alights on buildings. One bird comes to a ledge 

 of a house-front opposite my window, and walks 

 up and down there. We may expect that 

 other changes in the birds' habits will come 

 about in time, if the present rate of increase 

 should continue. Thus, last summer, one pair 

 built a nest on St. Martin's Church, Trafalgar 

 Square ; another pair on a mansion in Victoria 

 Street, Westminster. 



Something further will be said of this species 

 in a chapter on the movements of birds in 

 London. 



