FEATHERED CITIZENS.
AWRITER in the Edinburgh Review for January gives a very pleasing and accurate description of the present bird-population of London. Of the hundred and eighty- four species which breed in the British Islands, he shows that the thrush, blackbird, robin, hedge-sparrow, whitethroat, sedge-warbler, reed-warbler, great-tit, coal-tit, blue-tit, wren, starling, jackdaw, crow, rook, fly-catcher, swallow, martin, greenfinch, sparrow, chaffinch, cuckoo, wild duck, wood- pigeon, moorhen, and dabchick have all nested recently within four miles of Charing Cross. He distinguishes care- fully between the real London birds and occasional visitors, though some of these, as he points out, are London birds properly speaking, because their visits are regular, though not for the purposes of nesting. He notes the rise and decline of London rookeries, the visits of kingfishers to Battersea Park, the new seagull population, the reintro- duction of the magpie, and the ill-omened disappearance of the friendly owl. He may be interested to know that a few white owls are still left in the extreme west, and have recently been seen both in Holland Park and over Brook Green.
He does not claim that his list of London birds is ex- haustive; it is, indeed, rather an "account" than a catalogue, and a very interesting account it is. But there is no reason why it should not be the basis of a "short survey of the State of London" from the birds' point of view which would guide future naturalists and Comity Council Committees, just as Dr. Hamilton's list, published in the Zoologist in 1866, is used for reference by himself. We venture, therefore, to add the following notes to those which he has made, and to others which he will doubtless receive from other sources. Magpies, which he mentions as formerly so common that Mr. Yarrell once saw twenty-three all together in Kensington Gardens, were never, we think, quite extinct in London, though there is no doubt that those now breeding in Regent's Park escaped from the Zoo, where one pair now spend most of their time as voluntary pensioners. But a wild pair always survived in Holland Park, and nested there, or in the weetern corner of Kensington Gardens. The pheasant and the partridge are still occasionally found inside the fringe of the London area, under circumstances so curious that they are worth recording. Three years ago a hen pheasant was seen for some "weeks in different parts of West Kensington and Hammersmith; and in the present month a fine cock bird, with perfettly fresh plumage and tail unbroken, was caught jest on tim western border of the London County Council boundary, smile and a half to the west of Olympia, in a garden opposite to Ohiswick Eyot. It was of the small, old English breed, with no ring round its neck; and there is every probability that this, as well as the bird in Hammersmith, belonged to a breed of pheasants which have never died out, and always prodsce one or two broods a year, in the market farm close to the river above Corney Reach. There partridges also breed ; ant both these and pheasants occasionally make their way lab the remains of the Fulham market gardens, first crossing the river, and then recrossing it lower down. These gardenr are also visited by one or two coveys of partridges bred moss the river in the grounds of the Ranelagh Club. The domeof St. Paul's Cathedral ought to be a regular peregrines' restitg place, if not an eyrie. We very much doubt whether the have ever ceased to visit it, as Sir John Sebright informec Dr. Hamilton they used to do every October. One of th Cathedral authorities recently stated that they had nr: been observed there. But the dome is so high that is quite outside the ordinary angle of vision of talc- dwelling people. It is quite an effort to throw the hea back sufficiently to see the top of the dome when walk ing or driving anywhere near the Cathedral ; and wha, takes place on that great area of stone, so remote and yet so near, is far removed from general view. But a pigeon was struck down by a large hawk in the City (probably a peregrine) as late as last autumn. A pair of peregrines were seen soaring over Kensington early in the summer, after the long spell of cold winds in the spring. The north-east wind which had blown continuously for three weeks changed at 1 p.m., and the birds were first seen by a passer-by who raised his head to look at the weathercock and verify the change of wind,—a chance instance in which the " aloofneas " of the birds haunt- ing the higher aerial plane above cities did not prevent them being observed. The reappearance of the carrion crow in Kensington Gardens is duly noted in the article in the Edinburgh, and the site of a recent nest given, in a tree near the Speke obelisk. We believe that there are in and around London quite as many carrion crows as rooks. They nest on the island in Battersea Park, in the big elms on both sides of the river at Fulham and Putney, at Hampstead, and in Holland Park. A long chapter might be written on the habits of the London carrion crow by any one who will rise early enough to watch him. His main haunts are the banks of the river, and the market gardens, not only of Fulham and Chiswick, but those which are now being developed on a great scale in North-East London; wherever, in fact, the elm-tree
-offers a place for his nest, and the heaps of refuse brought to enrich the market gardens afford food. Recently the sea- gulls have found out the attraction of these heaps. On the .Chiswick market farm more than a hundred gulls, half that number of carrion crows, and a company of rooks and jack- daws, were seen engaged at one time on a great heap of stable straw, with a delicious assortment of a few loads of stale 'herrings and rotten oranges, which offered a choice variety of eating. It was noticed that the white gulls and black crows -were equally eager to eat the oranges, digging their beaks into them and flying off with them to the river embankment. A snipe and several green plovers were seen close by.
, Two interesting questions are raised in the Edinburgh kdeview,—the first being whether the birds now found in our great cities have been "enclosed" in their present haunts ; while the second is the practical one whether we can expect them to continue there or to diminish. The writer answers the first in the affirmative, and the second in the negative. Be thinks that those still living in London can hardly receive additions from the country, as the country birds would simply be unable to find a living in the town. We believe this view to be correct, and to hold good in all cases of resident birds, except the starlings and a few which enter London by a very curious highway. Starlings are some of the very few birds which regularly migrate from towns—not necessarily large towns— to the fields, revisiting each more than once in the year. Now of all things, starlings lore to feed on newly mown and watered lawns. The area of this kind of turf has greatly increased in London lately. Several acres must be added every year in the parks, public gardens, County Council '" open spaces," and in the little squares and plots of big buildings. These attract the starlings in great numbers. The.-e are also a few visitors from the country which come to say by the one bird-road still left open, which is the nature. entrance-gate both of residents and migrants. This is the greatest of all open spaces, open from side to side and end to end,—namely, the London river. Down this the migrants tour when leaving the Thames valley above London, arid by it they return. In frost and cold the home-birds also follow the tidal Thames downwards. Blackbirds, (inches, thr.ishes, wagtails, rooks, and robins, and even king- fishers, enter enter London by its river-gate every year. Whether they stay depinds on the accommodation they find on either tank. Where the old-fashioned willows are left, as they were until recently prom Putney to Hammersmith, by Chiswick Eyot, and where public gardens or strips of shrubbery adjoin, as at Battersea, the Chelsea Embankment, or higher up at Fulham Palace, some of these birds doubtless stay. It is almost certainly by this route that the dabchicks and other wild waterfowl, o; which such a pleasant account is given in the Edinburgh, artive in St. James's Park, the Serpentine, and Battersea Park. Every night dwellers by the river may hear the calls of moorhens and other waterfowl flying up and down th6 stream ; and where they find suitable quarters they are certain to prolong their visit ; otherwise they fly back before dawn to their previous quarters. Wherefore we hope -that the Thames Conservancy Com- missioners, who maintain a vigilant guard over the riparian beauties of the timer Thames above Teddington, will retain the ornamental frive of osiers and willows when they replace the lower line of he tidal banks with stone, and so enable
London to " tap " some part of the stream of birds which passes up and down the course of the river. The Con- servancy should also acquire the same powers for protecting birds on the water and banks below Teddington Lock which they have used to such good purpose above it.
"The number of species which inhabit London mast go on decreasing as London grows larger and more smoky, and the parks more artificial and more frequented." This is so. But must the parks become more artificial P We believe that in each there will soon be reserves or " wildernesses" artfully natural, with plenty of turf, shrubs, and water, made partly to encourage the birds, especially those which, like the whitethroats, are insect-eaters. There is nothing in the gathering of human beings which is in itself distasteful to most birds. They are a friendly race, as witness the conversion of the wood-pigeon. But the physical difficulties in their way are want of proper food—in the case of some species want of nesting places— which can be provided, and the want of running water, or a constant supply near their haunt. This is often forgotten. but is a real drawback. Set a small hose running in any London garden, and in two minutes a blackbird or a robin is there, first drinking, then bathing, and then seeking food on the moistened grass. Wood-pigeons will crowd to a shallow bowl of water set on the leads many hundred yards from the parks.
The introduction of such beautiful and luxurious vegetation as adorns the Sub-Tropical Garden at Battersea Park must also encourage the migrant warblers; and with the increase of kingfishers on the Thames, due to their preservation by the Conservancy, they can hardly fail to reappear in London waters, as they have recently done in Battersea Park. If in the rush at luncheon-time the feathered citizens find them- selves inconveniently crowded, there is also ample vacant space for another "city of birds" on a different level from the ground-floor. We have never made such use of the flat roofs and galleries of our great public buildings as we might. There we might construct "hanging gardens," and keep end- less:flowers, ferns, and tiny fountains, and let the only per- manent inhabitants be the birds, the intrusion of any others, especially city cats, being penal without benefit of clergy.
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