126 BIRDS IN LONDON 



Tristram- Valentine, writing of the starling in 

 London, its neat, bright, glossy appearance, com- 

 pared with that of the soot-blackened disreput- 

 able-looking sparrow, says ' the starling always 

 looks like a gentleman.' In like manner the 

 robin will always be a robin, and act like one, 

 in London or out of it the most unsocial, 

 fierce-tempered little duellist in the feathered 

 world. Now I wish to point out that this 

 fierce intolerant spirit of our bird is an ad- 

 vantage in London, if we love robins and are 

 anxious to have plenty of them. 



It is a familiar fact that at the end of 

 summer the adult robins disappear ; that they 

 remain in hiding in the shade of the evergreens 

 and thick bushes until they have got a new 

 dress, and have recovered their old vigour ; that 

 when they return to the world, so to speak, 

 and find their young in possession of their 

 home and territory, they set themselves to re- 

 conquer it. For the robin will not tolerate 

 another robin in that portion of a garden, 

 shrubbery, orchard, or plantation which he 

 regards as his very own. A great deal of 

 fighting then takes place between old and young 

 birds, and these fights in many instances end 



