MOVEMENTS OF LONDON BIRDS 135 



had probably gone away to the country, leaving 

 his mate to rear this very late brood as best she 

 could. Doubtless many of these wanderers from 

 the metropolis get killed in the country, but in 

 December and January the survivors return to 

 the safety of the parks, and to a monotonous diet 

 of stale bread. 



It is probable that with the change of tem- 

 perature in September and October the London 

 wood-pigeons, like so many birds, are seized by 

 a restless and roving spirit ; but I am inclined 

 to believe that the taste of wild nuts and fruits, 

 which they get in the parks at that season, is 

 one cause of their going away. They do not get 

 much of this natural food ; they first strip the 

 oaks of their acorns almost before they are 

 quite ripe, depriving the London urchins of 

 their little harvest, and then attack the haws 

 and holly-berries ; and when this small supply 

 has been exhausted the birds go further afield in 

 search of more. 



On the evening of August 26, 1897, I saw 

 a number of wood-pigeons feeding on the haws 

 in a manner quite new in my experience. There 

 were twelve or fourteen birds on a good-sized 

 thorn-tree growing in Buckingham Palace 



