58 BIBDS IN LONDON 



and invitation to fly was at last sounded, and 

 hastily responded to — We have not come to stay — 

 we are off — good-bye — so-long-^farewell — and 

 forthwith they rose up and flew away, probabl}' 

 in search of fresher woods and less trodden 

 pastures than those of Clissold Park. 



There are also to be met with in London a 

 few solitary vagrant daws which in most cases 

 are probably birds escaped from captivity. 

 Close to my home a daw of this description 

 appears every morning at the house of a friend 

 and demands his breakfast with loud taps on the 

 window-pane. The generous treatment he has 

 received has caused him to abandon his first 

 suspicious attitude ; he now flies boldly into the 

 house and explores the rooms, and is specially 

 interested in the objects on the dressing-table. 

 Articles of jewellery are carefully put out of sight 

 when he makes a call. 



My friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Melford, of 

 Fulham, are probably responsible for the exist- 

 ence in London of a good number of wandering 

 solitary jackdaws. They cherish a wonderful 

 admiration and aflfection towards all the mem- 

 bers of the crow family, and have had num- 

 berless daws, jays, and pies as pets, or rather 



