110 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



sharply driven by hunger as to rise very unwillingly 

 on the approach of passengers. A meadow opposite 

 the copse is one of their favourite resorts. There are 

 anthills, rushes, and other indications of not too rich 

 a soil in this meadow, and in places the prickly rest- 

 harrow grows among the grass, hearing its pink flower 

 in summer. Perhaps the coarse grass and poor soil 

 are productive of grubs and insects, for not only the 

 crows, but the rooks, continually visit it. 



One spring, hearing a loud chattering in the copse, 

 and recognizing the alarm notes of the missel-thrush, 

 I cautiously crept up the hedge, and presently found 

 three crows up in a birch tree, just above where the 

 thrushes were calling. The third crow— probably a 

 descendant of the other two — had joined in a raid 

 upon the missel-thrushes' brood. Both defenders and 

 assailants were in a high state of excitement ; the 

 thrushes screeching, and the crows, in a row one 

 above the other on a branch, moving up and down 

 it in a restless manner. I fear they had succeeded 

 in their purpose, for no trace of the young birds was 

 visible. 



The nest of the missel-thrush is so frequently singled 

 out for attack by crows that it would seem the young 

 birds must possess a peculiar and attractive flavour ; 

 or is it because they are large ? There are more crows 

 round London than in a whole county, where the 

 absence of manufactures and the rural quiet would 

 seem favourable to bird life. The reason, of course, 

 is that in the country the crows frequenting w-oods are 

 shot and kept down as much as possible by game- 

 keepers. 



