290 BIRDS AND MAN 



acres adjoining Streatham Common, a wonder- 

 fully beautiful wooded wilderness at a distance of 

 little more than six miles from Charing Cross, 

 I had evidence of the value of the London owl 

 as a check on the sparrow. A lady of the house 

 showed me one of the owl-trees in the grounds, 

 an ancient, hollow, discrowned elm : on looking 

 closely at the roots, I found a large number of 

 cast-up pellets composed of the indigestible 

 portions of the bird's food — fur of rats and mice 

 mixed with feathers and small bones ; to my 

 surprise, every pellet I examined contained a 

 sparrow's skull. 



At Wellfield I was told the story of probably 

 the last pair of corncrakes that have bred in a 

 London suburb. About 1890 the birds made 

 their appearance in spring, and for three consecu- 

 tive years returned to breed in the grounds. 

 The male, I was told, was absurdly tame for 

 so shy a bird ; and invariably in wet weather 

 made his appearance on the lawn, and, squatting 

 on the turf not many yards away from the 

 drawing-room window, he would crake — crake 

 — crake monotonously by the hour, jerking his 

 body forward at each note. 



