BIRDS IN LONDON 289 



such a policy would be the right one by what I 

 observed in the summer in Kensington Gardens, 

 when the jackdaws had young in the hollow 

 trees near the Palace. From all I heard from 

 others, and saw for myself on several mornings, I 

 came to the conclusion that these daws fed their 

 broods almost exclusively on sparrow fledgUngs. 

 They would have been very un- crowlike birds 

 indeed if they had neglected to do so, seeing that 

 the disorderly conspicuous nests (full of food 

 when food was wanted) were abundant aU along 

 the Flower Walk. Here the daws were busiest 

 during the early hours of the morning, when 

 people were not about, flying to and fro between 

 their hollow nest-trees and the feeding-ground, or 

 sparrowry, if such a word be allowable. If we 

 were to add to the dozen pairs of breeding daws 

 and one or two pairs of owls in these gardens, 

 a few jays, magpies, and a pair or two of 

 sparrowhawks, there would still be sparrows 

 enough, and the park-keepers would be spared 

 the dreary work of trying to keep them down. 



Owls, I have reason to believe, are more 

 common in and round London than I had 

 thought. At Wellfield, a private estate of forty 



CJ 



