THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



All others separate into pairs for the breeding season. In 



London the Sparrow breeds almost all the year through, 



or at all events endeavours to do so. To a large extent the 



artificial economy of the House Sparrow may be studied 



from almost every window in the Metropolis ; there is 



not an open space where its actions may not be observed 



during all the hours of daylight. Fearlessly it searches 



for food in the busiest thoroughfares, its meals interrupted 



a thousand times a day by the ceaseless traffic, its life 



in jeopardy at almost every moment. The nature of its 



food must also have changed to an amazing extent, so 



much so that the bird can now, and does, subsist upon 



almost everything eatable. Its cheery chirp remains the 



same in town and country alike ; but its social tendencies 



seem to have increased. For instance, the gathering 



of these birds towards evening in a certain tree, 



especially in autumn, where they keep up a twittering 



babel until darkness disperses them to their roosting- 



places, seems to be peculiar to London. It speaks well 



for the Sparrow's fertility and adaptability to so many 



varied conditions of life as the vast Metropolis presents 



that it should be able to maintain its numbers. Enemies 



and fatal contingencies surround it. Not the least 



serious of these are cats and rats, and in one or two places 



owls. Almost any day in summer on the banks of the 



outlet to the Serpentine in Hyde Park you may stand 



and watch the rats prey upon the young Sparrows that are 



attracted by the crumbs thrown to them by the park 



loungers. I have here seen half a dozen young Sparrows 



seized and carried off by rats, scarcely an arm's-length 



away from where I was standing, in the course of half an 



hour. The rats come out of the beds of plants and seize 



the unsuspecting birds in the most impudent manner. 



London's cats are also great destroyers of this bird, as 



they are of many other more interesting species, especially 



in the parks, and I for one should like to see them banished 



