Chapter I: Preface

The opening chapter contains, by way of introduction, all that need be said concerning the object and scope of this work; it remains to say here that, as my aim has been to furnish an account of the London wild bird life of to-day, there was little help to be had from the writings of previous observers. These mostly deal with the central parks, and are interesting now, mainly, as showing the changes that have taken place. At the end of the volume a list will be found of the papers and books on the subject which are known to me. This list will strike many readers as an exceedingly meagre one, when it is remembered that London has always been a home of ornithologists--that from the days of Oliver Goldsmith, who wrote pleasantly of the Temple Gardens rookery, and of Thomas Pennant and his friend Daines Barrington, there have never been wanting observers of the wild bird life within our gates: The fact remains that, with the exception of a few incidental passages to be found in various ornithological works, nothing was expressly written about the birds of London until James Jennings's 'Ornithologia' saw the light a little over seventy years ago. Jennings's work was a poem, probably the worst ever written in the English language; but as he inserted copious notes, fortunately in prose, embodying his own observations on the bird life of east and south-east London, the book has a very considerable interest for us to-day. Nothing more of importance appeared until the late Shirley Hibberd's lively paper on 'London Birds' in 1865. From that date onward the subject has attracted an increased attention, and at present we have a number of London or park naturalists, as they might be called, who view the resident London species as adapted to an urban life, and who chronicle their observations in the 'Field,' 'Nature,' 'Zoologist,' 'Nature Notes,' and other natural history journals, and in the newspapers and magazines.

To return to the present work. Treating of actualities I have been obliged for the most part to gather my own materials, relying perhaps too much on my own observation; since London is now too vast a field for any person, however diligent, to know it intimately in all its extent.

Probably any reader who is an observer of birds on his own account, and has resided for some years near a park or other open space in London, will be able to say, by way of criticism, that I have omitted some important or interesting fact known to him--something that ought to have had a place in a work of this kind. In such a case I can only plead either that the fact was not known to me, or that I had some good reason for not using it. Moreover, there is a limit to the amount of matter which can be included in a book of this kind, and a selection had to be made from a large number of facts and anecdotes I had got together.

All the matter contained in this book, with the exception of one article, or part of an article, on London birds, in the 'Saturday Review,' now appears for the first time.

In conclusion, I have to express my warm thanks to those who have helped me in my task, by supplying me with fresh information, and in other ways.

W. H. H.

LONDON: _April_, 1898.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE BIRDS AND THE BOOK
PAGE
A handbook of London birds considered--Reasons for not writing
it--Changes in the character of the wild bird population, and
supposed cause--The London sparrow--Its abundance--Bread-begging
habits--Monotony--Its best appearance--Beautiful finches--Value
of open spaces--The sparrows' afternoon tea in Hyde Park--Purpose
of this book 1

CHAPTER II

CROWS IN LONDON

A short general account of the London crows--The magpie--The
jay--London ravens--The Enfield ravens--The Hyde Park ravens--The
Tower ravens--The carrion crow, rook, and jackdaw 20

CHAPTER III

THE CARRION CROW IN THE BALANCE

The crow in London--Persecuted in the royal parks--Degradation
of Hyde Park--Ducks in the Serpentine: how they are
thinned--Shooting a chicken with a revolver--Habits of the Hyde
Park mallard--Anecdotes--Number of London crows--The crow a
long-lived bird: a bread-eater--Anecdote--Seeks its food on the
river--The crow as a pet--Anecdotes 32

CHAPTER IV

THE LONDON DAW

Rarity of the daw in London--Pigeons and daws compared--Æsthetic
value of the daw as a cathedral bird--Kensington Palace daws;
their disposition and habits--Friendship with rooks--Wandering
daws at Clissold Park--Solitary daws--Mr. Mark Melford's
birds--Rescue of a hundred daws--The strange history of an
egg-stealing daw--White daws--White ravens--Willughby's
speculations--A suggestion 52

CHAPTER V

EXPULSION OF THE ROOKS

Positions of the rook and crow compared--Gray's Inn Gardens
rookery--Break-up of the old, and futile attempt of the
birds to establish new rookeries--The rooks a great loss to
London--Why the rook is esteemed--Incidents in the life of a
tame rook--A first sight of the Kensington Gardens rookery--The
true history of the expulsion of the rooks--A desolate scene,
and a vision of London beautified 68

CHAPTER VI

RECENT COLONISTS

The wood-pigeon in Kensington Gardens--Its increase--Its beauty
and charm--Perching on Shakespeare's statue in Leicester
Square--Change of habits--The moorhen--Its appearance and
habits--An æsthetic bird--Its increase--The dabchick in
London--Its increase--Appearance and habits--At Clissold
Park--The stock-dove in London 89

CHAPTER VII

LONDON'S LITTLE BIRDS

Number of species, common and uncommon--The London sparrow--His
predominance, hardiness, and intelligence--A pet
sparrow--Breeding irregularities--A love-sick bird--Sparrow
shindies: their probable cause--'Sparrow chapels'--Evening in the
parks--The starling--His independence--Characteristics--Blackbird,
thrush, and robin--White blackbirds--The robin--Decrease in
London--Habits and disposition 104

CHAPTER VIII

MOVEMENTS OF LONDON BIRDS

Migration as seen in London--Swallows in the parks--Fieldfares--A
flock of wild geese--Autumn movements of resident
species--Wood-pigeons--A curious habit--Dabchicks and
moorhens--Crows and rooks--The Palace daws--Starlings--Robins--A
Tower robin and the Tower sparrows--Passage birds in the
parks--Small birds wintering in London--Influx of birds during
severe frosts--Occasional visitors--The black-headed gull--A
winter scene in St. James's Park 129

CHAPTER IX

A SURVEY OF THE PARKS: WEST LONDON

A general survey of the metropolitan parks--West London--Central
parks, with Holland Park--A bird's highway--Decrease of
songsters--The thrush in Kensington Gardens--Suggestions--Owls
in Kensington Gardens--Other West London open spaces--Ravenscourt
Park as it was and as it is 151

CHAPTER X

NORTH-WEST AND NORTH LONDON

Open spaces on the borders of West London--The Scrubs, Old Oak
Common, and Kensal Green Cemetery--North-west district--Paddington
Recreation Ground, Kilburn Park, and adjoining open
spaces--Regent's Park described--Attractive to birds, but not
safe--Hampstead Heath: its character and bird life--The ponds--A
pair of moorhens--An improvement suggested--North London
districts--Highgate Woods, Churchyard Bottom Wood, Waterlow Park,
and Highgate Cemetery--Finsbury Park--A paradise of
thrushes--Clissold Park and Abney Park Cemetery 171

CHAPTER XI

EAST LONDON

Condition of the East district--Large circular group of open
spaces--Hackney Downs and London Fields--Victoria Park with Hackney
Common--Smoky atmosphere--Bird life--Lakes--An improvement
suggested--Chaffinch fanciers--Hackney Marsh with North and
South Mill Fields--Unique character of the Marsh--White House
Fishery--The vanished sporting times--Anecdotes--Collection of
rare birds--A region of marshes--Wanstead Old Park--Woodland
character--Bird life--Heronry and rookery--A suggestion 192

CHAPTER XII

SOUTH-EAST LONDON

General survey of South London--South-east London: its most populous
portion--Three small open spaces--Camberwell New Park--Southwark
Park--Kennington Park--Fine shrubberies--Greenwich Park and
Blackheath--A stately and depressing park--Mutilated trees--The
extreme East--Bostell Woods and Heath--Their peculiar
charm--Woolwich and Plumstead Commons--Hilly Fields--Peckham
Rye and Park--A remonstrance--Nunhead and Camberwell
Cemeteries--Dulwich Park--Brockwell Park--The rookery 216

CHAPTER XIII

SOUTH-WEST LONDON

Introductory remarks--Comparative large extent of public
ground in South-west London--Battersea Park--Character and
popularity--Bird life--Clapham Common: its present and past
character--Wandsworth Common--The yellowhammer--Tooting
Common--Tooting Bec--Questionable improvements--A passion
for swans--Tooting Graveney--Streatham Common--Bird
life--Magpies--Rookery--Bishop's Park, Fulham--A suggestion--Barn
Elms Park--Barnes Common--A burial-ground--Birds--Putney Heath,
Lower Putney Common, and Wimbledon Common--Description--Bird
life--Rookeries--The badger--Richmond Park--Its vast extent and
character--Bird life--Daws--Herons--The charm of large soaring
birds--Kew Gardens--List of birds--Unfavourable changes--The
Queen's private grounds 237

CHAPTER XIV

PROTECTION OF BIRDS IN THE PARKS

Object of this book--Summary of facts contained in previous
chapters--An incidental result of changes in progress--Some degree
of protection in all the open spaces, efficient protection in
none--Mischievous visitors to the parks--Bird fanciers and
stealers--The destructive rough--The barbarians are few--Two
incidents at Clissold Park--Love of birds a common feeling of
the people 270

CHAPTER XV

THE CAT QUESTION

The cat's unchangeable character--A check on the sparrows--Number
of sparrows in London--What becomes of the annual increase--No
natural check on the park sparrows--Cats in the parks--Story of
a cat at Battersea Park--Rabbits destroyed by cats in Hyde
Park--Number of cats in London--Ownerless cats--Their miserable
condition--How cats are made ownerless--How this evil may be
remedied--How to keep cats out of the parks 284