298 BIRDS IN LONDON 



wintry streets and inhospitable areas. It is 

 related of La Fontaine, the fabulist, that he was 

 passionately fond of strawberries, on account 

 of the effect which this fruit had in annually 

 restoring him to comparative health and some 

 pleasure in life ; and that during the winter and 

 spring his only wish was that the strawberry 

 season when it came round again would find 

 him still living, since if it delayed its coming 

 he would lose all hope. In like manner these 

 ownerless cats, if they have any thought about 

 their condition, must long for the change in the 

 year that will once more call forth the black- 

 beetles in areas and basements, and bring the 

 young sparrows fluttering down from their 

 inaccessible nests. 



How does it happen that there are so many 

 of these strays in London ? For cats do not leave 

 their homes of their own accord, except in rare 

 instances whefT they have been enticed or en- 

 couraged to take up their quarters in some other 

 neighbourhood. As a rule the animal prefers 

 its own home with poverty to abundance in a 

 strange place. I believe that a vast majority 

 of these poor ones come from the houses or 

 rooms inhabited by the poor. Most persons are 



