THE BIRDS OF LONDON. 287 
told me by an eminent surgeon now practising in London. When 
he was house surgeon to St. George’s Hospital he was in the 
daily habit of taking an early walk through Kensington Gardens 
and Hyde Park. One morning whilst walking in Kensington 
Gardens he noticed a wamnber of Rooks congregated on the 
ground, making a great cawing and noise. On going up to see 
what was the matter, he ducal two unfledged young ones on the 
ground, which had evidently fallen from the nest above. He took 
them up, put one in each pocket, continued his walk home by the 
Serpentine, and deposited them in the garden of the Hospital, in 
which at that time was a large plane tree. He was engaged in 
making a little nest on the ground, in which he intended to feed 
them, when he heard a great bustle in the tree above, and on 
looking up, to his astonishment, he found the plane tree covered 
with Rooks. They set up a great clamour, and on his going 
away to a distance, they all came down to look at the young birds, 
and then all but two went away. These two birds constantly 
came and fed the young Rooks, and their captor had no further 
trouble. He only removed them every night for fear of cats, and 
on bringing them out in the morning there were the old birds 
ready to feed them. The young ones grew up, and to prevent 
their flying away he had their wings cut. They remained in the 
garden for two years and then were allowed to fly. After a time 
they ceased to frequent the garden, which they did for some time 
after they obtained their liberty. 
Jackpaw, Corvus monedula.—There are perhaps six or seven 
pairs frequenting Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, where they 
are resident and breed. These birds may also be found nesting 
in various other localities in this great city. A pair frequent the 
steeple of Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street. Another pair 
have had their nest for years under the wings of a figure of an 
angel on the centre house of Stratford Place. The Jackdaw’s 
partiality for towers and steeples is alluded to by Cowper in the 
well-known lines beginning— 
“ There is a bird who by his coat, 
And by the hoarseness of his note, 
Might be supposed a Crow, 
A great frequenter of the church, 
Where, Bishop-like, he finds a perch, 
And dormitory, too.” 
