THE LONDON WOOD-PIGEONS.
THE increase of the London birds more than keeps pace with the increase in the number and size of London trees. Some years ago it seemed probable that only a few half-domesticated species, such as sparrows, starlings, jack- daws, and domestic pigeons, birds which have for generations established a " commensalism " with man, would be left in the central parks. But the springs of 1.894 and 1895 have seen the bird population doubled and trebled; and now that the County Council have determined to enforce the Wild Birds' Protection Act in the London area, there is every prospect that before long it will arouse the interest and curiosity not only of country visitors and naturalists, but of those who are concerned in preserving the minor amenities of large towns in the Midlands and North of England.
The most marked feature of this revival of bird-life in London is the sudden and recent increase of the London wood-pigeons. The wood-pigeon is not only the largest and handsomest of all our native wild pigeons, but the shyest, the least dependent on the labour of man for food, being able to subsist almost entirely on the seeds of weeds, acorns, beech-mast, and other wholly wild and woodland products, and the only one of the tribe which, when reared by hand from the nest, seems indisposed to remain tame or attach itself to human society. Now it is the commonest of all the birds—sparrows excepted—in the central parks, and is spreading to all parts of London where trees are to be found. Very curious and interesting modifications have also taken place in its habits and in its demeanour towards human beings, though this is perhaps less remarkable than the fact of the spontaneous increase and diffusion of the birds themselves. In Hyde Park and Kensing- ton Gardens, the estimate of those whose duty it is to feed them places the number at about one hundred pairs. In the early part of this spring, they congregated at two main centres in Hyde Park, the small inclosure near the Powder Magazine, above the Serpentine Bridge, and the outfall of the waters now known as the Glen. From one hundred and fifty to two hundred birds were daily fed near the latter point, and forty or fifty at the upper inclosure, where the peacocks have their homes. Now they have scattered over the whole of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to nest, but none appear to have left their London quarters, though many pairs have migrated to adjacent squares and gardens. St. James's Park is, considering its size, even more thickly populated by the wood-pigeons. The low wooded ground near the ponds is said to have been the original centre from which they first spread ; general tradition among the park-keepers attributing their first introduction to a wish expressed by the Prince of Wales. On a foggy day of February last, the writer counted forty-three, without leaving the path which runs from the Queen Anne's Gate entrance across the bridge, and northwards towards towards Waterloo Place. All the birds seem to have remained to build and rear their young, and though the thick foliage makes it difficult to find the nests, they are so fearless that, contrary to all established bird, tradition, they do not build in the early morning hours, but are seen at all times of the day carrying sticks to the partner who is acting as architect.
A morning's " birdnesting " in the parks is an interesting experience for the naturalist in London, even when denied the pleasure of tree-climbing. If he will only wait quietly, the movements of the birds themselves, soon show where the home is being prepared, and even when the hen is sitting, the cock-bird is so attentive in visiting her that she is soon discovered. Two pairs were building at the same time, on the north side of the St. James's Park Pond, in a large and ancient willow which overhangs the water. One bird sat on the nest, while the other flew up with small pieces of dead stick, and " handed " them very carefully in its beak to its mate, who adjusted them with more care and pains than the rather ragged, unfinished appearance of a wood-pigeon's nest suggests. Other nests were placed in elms and plane- trees, and one in a low thorn-tree, just above a garden-seat. In Hyde Park the nests were much more numerous, though the number and size of the trees, and the thickness of the foliage and limbs, made them more difficult to find. One bird was sitting in the first elm which stands between the carriage-drive and the Row, opposite Hyde Park Corner. Three sparrows' nests were also built in this tree. In the same row of elms, four more wood-pigeons were build- ing between Hyde Park Corner and the " Glen." In a small lime-tree opposite the inclosure in which the park rabbits, svaterhens, and pheasants live, a pigeon had built a nest not more than twelve feet from the ground, while another pair had nested in a tall plane-tree. Another nest was placed almost as low down in a tree just west of Knightsbridge barracks ; and many more in the tall elms of Kensington Gardens. The old trees in the Broad Walk are perhaps their favourite nesting-place. But there a few pairs have always bred, and some of the trees have this year held nests not only of pigeons, but also of jackdaws, wild-ducks, and starlings.
The wood-pigeons are now extending their range from the parks which lie adjacent to each other, to isolated squares and gardens, though those who do not readily notice the distinction in size and colour between the wild and domestic species, have been slow to notice their arrival. They have discovered the new gardens on the Thames Embankment, between Charing Cross Station and Waterloo Bridge, and one pair at least have nested there. In the winter they regularly visited Onslow Square, beyond South Kensington Station. There they were fed daring the hard weather, and have never left the neighbourhood. Three or four pairs still come regularly to be fed at the back of one of the houses on the north side of the square, and are nesting in the trees in the centre. It would be difficult to find a better example of change in what must be considered the induced, and not the natural, attitude of our wild birds towards man, than this voluntary association of the wood-pigeon with the inhabitants of Western London. There is at least one house in Onslow Square at which they may be seen daily, feeding on maize thrown upon the lower leads of a ground-floor room. They perch upon houses as well as upon trees, and have adopted in part the habits of the stock-dove, which naturally prefers rocks and old buildings to trees. In Hyde Park Terrace a pair nested last year between two chimney-pots. Their tameness in the small inclosures in the Parks is familiar to all who visit them. But they are learning the same con- fidence even when feeding in the open among the trees of Kensington Gardens, and will allow an approach within a few yards before rising to fly.
While the wood-pigeons are showing an inclination to nest on houses, the sparrows, by a curious change of habit, are leaving the houses for the trees. Encouraged by the quantity of food given to the wild-fowl and pigeons, they have flocked in thousands to the parks, and become "arboreal." In the first hot days of May they all began building at once, and in some of the trees the nests were placed so close to- gether, that it seems not improbable that before long they may combine to build " flats," and make nests in common, like the "sociable weaver-birds." The nests were all built of freshly gathered, or freshly mown, green grass, and when placed in the elms or timber-trees were very large. But their favourite site is in the small upright poplars, which are planted in groups near Hyde Park Corner, and also near the bridge in St. James's Park. Some of these trees hold from four to seven or eight nests, in some cases placed at an interval of less than a foot one above the other. The London carrion-crows are not encouraged in the parks, though, if they had not been shot down to stop their forage among the young wild-fowl and the ducks' and pigeons' eggs, they would multiply as fast as they still do along the banks of the London river. One pair still haunt the SerpQntine, and their appearance is the signal for a general rush to the cover of the bank of all the young wild-
ducks on the upper lake. A pair nest regularly on an island in the lake in Battersea Park, and another nested in a tree in Dean's Yard, almost under the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral, until the old Doctors' Commons passed into the hands of the builder. More broods of young blackbirds and thrashes have flown safely this year in Kensington Gardens than have yet been reared,—an increase partly due to the growth of the shrubs, but also to the care of the park-keepers ; and chaffinches, robins, and even the bullfinch are nesting near the Long Water. The common warblers, such as the white- throat and chiff-chaff, have not yet returned to the parks, probably for want of suitable nesting-places. But the increase of the wood-pigeon is evidence that the welcome extended to wild birds in London is appreciated, and the arrival and permanent settlement of one wild species will probably be followed by that of many others.
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