BIBDS IN LONDON 



PAGE 



how they are thinned — Shooting a chicken with a 

 revolver — Habits of the Hyde Park mallard — Anecdotes 

 — Number of London crows — The crow a long-lived 

 bird : a bread-eater — Anecdote — Seeks its food on the 

 river — The crow as a pet — Anecdotes . . 32 



CHAPTEE IV 



THE LONDON DAW 



Earity of the daw in London — Pigeons and daws com- 

 pared — ^Esthetic value of the daw as a cathedral bird — 

 Kensington Palace daws ; their disposition and habits 

 — Friendship with rooks — 'Wandering daws at Clissold 

 Park — Solitary daws — Mr. Mark Melford's birds — 

 Rescue of a hundred daws — The strange history of an 

 egg-stealing daw — White daws — White ravens — Wil- 

 lughby's speculations — A suggestion ... 52 



CHAPTEE V 



EXPULSION OF THE EOOKS 



Positions of the rook and crow compared — Gray's Inn 

 Gardens rookery — Break-up of the old, and futUe 

 attempt of the birds to establish new rookeries — The 

 rooks a great loss to London — Why the rook is esteemed 

 — Incidents in the life of a tame rook — A first sight of 

 the Kensington Gardens rookery — The true history of 

 the expulsion of the rooks — A desolate scene, and a 

 vision of London beautified . . . . 68 



CHAPTEE VI 



EECENT COLONISTS 



The wood-pigeon in Kensington Gardens — Its increase — Its 

 beauty and charm — Perching on Shakespeare's statue in 

 Leicester Square — Change of habits — The moorhen — Its 



