BIBDS FOB LONDON 326 



little spasmodic attempts to kill the cats in some 

 of the parks, are practised in secrecy and fear 

 lest the public should hear of them, have so far 

 proved ineffectual, would it not be best to take 

 a lesson from Nature, and restore some of the 

 natural checks which we have taken away ? 

 Let us in the first place make use of the park 

 sparrows in establishing colonies of as many new 

 or greatly diminished species as possible ; and 

 when we have done this, let us further introduce, 

 in moderate numbers, such species as prey on 

 small birds and their eggs and young — peregrine 

 falcon, kestrel, sparrow-hawk, owl, crow, daw, 

 magpie, and jay. 



However successful we may be in adding to 

 the number of our songsters, the sparrow will 

 always be more numerous than all the other 

 species together, and on account of his abun- 

 dance he will be more preyed upon ; further- 

 more, his big, conspicuous, slovenly nests will 

 be more subject to attack than the nests of 

 other species. It has been shown that miUions 

 of sparrows are yearly destroyed by cats in 

 London ; yet so quickly are they snapped up 

 by their subtle enemy that we reaUy see nothing 

 or very little indeed of the process. The young 



