BEGENT COLONISTS 101 



this strategy, but in the end the brave little 

 divers were beaten, and reared no young. 



The moral of this incident, which applies 

 not only to Clissold but to Brockwell, Dulwich, 

 and to a dozen other parks, is that you cannot 

 have a big aquatic happy family in a very small 

 pond. 



But it is extremely encouraging to all those 

 who wish for a ' better friendship ' with the 

 fowls of the air to find that this contest was 

 watched with keen interest and sympathy with 

 the defenders by the superintendent of a London 

 park and the park constables. 



It is curious to note that the three species 

 we have been considering, diflFering so widely 

 in their structures and habits, should be so 

 closely associated in the history of London 

 wild bird life. That they should hftve estab- 

 lished colonies at very nearly about the same 

 time, and very nearly at the same centre, from 

 which they have subsequently spread over the 

 metropolis ; and that this centre, the cradle of 

 the London races of these birds, should continue 

 to be their most favoured resort. Seeing the 

 numbers of wood-pigeons to-day, and their 

 tameness everywhere, the statement will seem 



