EECENT COLONISTS 103 



good reason for the hope that other species, 

 previously unknown to the metropolis, will be 

 added from time to time. We know that birds 

 attract birds, both their own and other kinds. 

 Even now there may be some new-comers 

 pioneers and founders of fresh colonies whose 

 presence is unsuspected, or known only to a 

 very few observers. I have been informed by 

 Mr. Howard Saunders that he has seen the 

 stock-dove in one of the West-end parks, and 

 that a friend of his had independently made the 

 discovery that this species is now a visitor to, 

 and possibly a resident in, London. One would 

 imagine the stock-dove to be a species well 

 suited to thrive with us, as it would find 

 numberless breeding-holes both in the decayed 

 trees in the parks and in big buildings, in which 

 to rear its young in safety. I should prefer to 

 see the turtle-dove, a much prettier and more 

 graceful bird, with a better voice, but beggars 

 must not be choosers ; with the stock-dove 

 established, London will possess three of the 

 four doves indigenous in these islands, and the 

 turtle-dove at present an annual breeder in 

 woods quite near to London may follow by- 

 and-by to complete the quartette. 



