200 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



would soon fear them as little as they do the 

 familiar cow. But they greatly fear the small- 

 sized, quiet, unobtrusive, and meek-looking cat. 

 Sparrows and starlings that fly wildly at the shout 

 of a small boy or the bark of a fox-terrier, build 

 their nests under every railway arch; and the 

 incubating bird sits unalarmed amid the iron 

 plates and girders when the express train rushes 

 overhead, so close to her that one would imagine 

 that the thunderous jarring noise would cause the 

 poor thing to drop down dead with terror. To 

 this indifference to the mere harmless racket of 

 civilization we owe it that birds are so numerous 

 around, and even in, London; and that in Kew 

 Gardens, which, on account of its position on the 

 water side, and the numerous railroads surround- 

 ing it, is almost as much tortured with noise as 

 Willesden or Clapham Junction, birds are con- 

 centrated in thousands. Food is not more 

 abundant there than in other places ; yet it would 

 be difficult to find a piece of ground of the same 

 extent in the country proper, where all is silent 

 and there are no human crowds, with so large a 

 bird population. They are more numerous in 

 Kew than elsewhere, in spite of the noise and the 



