38 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
It is some 2| miles long by 1J miles broad. 
The Island is in charge of a coloured keeper and 
boy. The keeper's principal duties, are to destroy 
the various birds of prey which fly over from the 
mainland, hoping to devour the Birds of Paradise. 
The loss, however, has been very small indeed. 
It is Sir William's ambition and wish that this 
Island should be a Paradise Bird Sanctuary. The 
landing- on the Island is prohibited, but permission 
to visit the birds can be obtained from the Agent 
on the mainland. 
The Humming Birds, with a great variety of 
soft bills, have already made it their home. 
Although only some few females of the Great- 
er Paradise were turned out, they are increasing. 
The Keeper is a most intelligent watcher and 
keen observer. His description of watching daily 
his beautiful pets is most interesting. The daily 
battles of the males in the forest trees are excit- 
ing. A large number of the males are now in 
adult plumage, with magnificent tails. One most 
remarkable thing is that although every endeavour 
has been made to find the nests and study the eggs 
not one has ever been found on the Island. The 
Paradises keep their secret wcli. Sir William also 
informed me that none of his collectors had ever 
seen the nesting arrangements of Paradise Birds. 
Plantains have been planted on the Island, 
but it is principally forest in which the birds find 
their food. I trust when this war is ended to> pay 
a visit to Little Tobago, which will be a very great 
pleasure. 
In conclusion, I thank Sir William Ingram 
for giving me the above facts to place before my 
"iimerous readers. 
COMMON LONDON BIRDS IN WAR 
TIME. 
By F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S. 
Not so long ago a writer on the birds of Lon- 
don enumerated Woodpeckers and Dabchicks 
among- the common and characteristic species; I 
have been wondering ever since what he could 
have been thinking of, for I have never seen 
Woodpeckers in London, though both the Green 
and the Great Spotted have occurred th-=;re; and, 
although Dabchicks used to breed -egularlv in 
St. James's Park, they were never especially com- 
mon in London. But as the gentleman aforesaid 
does not specially mention Starlings and Moor- 
hens, it looks as if these were really what he was 
thinking of, for both are and have been for a good 
many years particularly characteristic birds in the 
parks of Inner London, though one can hardly 
believe that he confused them with Woodpeckers 
and Dabchicks ! 
Starlings have not been affected at all by the 
war, as they could, and did, always look after 
themselves; year by year they have been coming 
more and more into London to live and breed, 
and I have seen evidence of their nesting in the 
clock tower of the Houses of Parliament and in 
Chancery Lane. I have also found them roosting 
in the ornamental work below the capital of Nel- 
son's column, and in that under the eaves of the 
General Post Office. Many Starlings must be 
non-breeders, for I have seen parties coming, into 
the column while breeding was taking place, but 
before there were fledged young about to form 
such assemblies. 
A pair that haunt the back of my lodgings 
at the foot of Primrose Hill were there all through 
the terrible cold spell of early 1917, and the cock 
never failed to sing every day; they lived largely 
on the food that was thrown out for birds till the 
Order prohibiting this practice, which fortunately 
for them did not come into force till they could be 
independent of such supplies. 
Other Starlings disappeared almost entirely 
at this time, and this was practically the only 
effect of these hard times that I noticed among our 
regular London birds; there was no evidence of 
starvation, such as was seen in the country, and 
though I saw Gulls in a garden at the end of 
Piccadilly, and hunting over quiet roadways, they 
had begun ere this winter to hunt overland, at- 
tracted, I think, by bits of bread carried upon 
roofs by Sparrows. 
Sparrows themselves do not feel the restric- 
tion of artificial food, apparently; but there was, 
even before the war, a good deal of degeneracy 
among them, which still continues. It is quite 
common to see birds apparently with no' tails, 
close inspection of which shows that the tail-quills 
have all broken off short, being of weak and rot- 
ten texture. This I have only noticed of late years, 
but about a dozen years ago the commonest form 
of degeneracy was white feathers appearing here 
and there, which are now rare. 
I have only seen one Sparrow in London all 
white, and this was in Hyde Park, but whether 
just before the war or since it began, I cannot 
remember. 
If any birds felt the food restrictions, I should 
expect the common Pigeons of the streets to do 
so; but they seem to find their living and rear the 
usual number of young all the same. Some dozens 
have been caught up* and removed from the British 
Museum precincts, but at St. Paul's there seem 
i 
