The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-02-01
BIRDS.
Interesting Visits to London BY the VEN
turesome.

A few years ago the sparrows and
the pigeons shared London between
them, says the London Mail. A few
thrushes and blackbirds, a robin and
. startling or two were almost their
only rivals.
Now, though London grows hugely
larger every year, the better guarding
of the parks and more stringent en-
forcement of the laws protecting wild
birds have worked a change for the
better.
Last year there were two authenti-
catedinstances of the cuckoo not nest
ing-for the cuckoo does that
-but laying its eggs within the lin
its of London county.
C. j. Cornish saw a young cuckoo
in a sedge warbler's nest on Cheswick
Eyot last spring. He watched with
a glass the unlucky foster parents
stufing food into the nav of their
big and hungry charge, which, he
says, would at times screech at the
rate of 100 screeches a minute, with
such an effect on the nerves of other
birds that even a passing sparrow
would stop, pick up food and fly into
the bush as if to feed it.
Also, in Highgate cemetery, a
young cuckoo was seen in May last
in the nest of a hedge sparrow, and
the finder writes that it is not the
first instance of a cuckoo being
Matched in the same place.
The wood pigeon is generally
looked on as a shy woodland bird. At
any rate, in the country it rarely nests
anywhere near a house. Yet for the
last six years in succession a pair of
these birds have reared a young fam
lily in the very heart of London. The
nest has been in a tree in the church.
yard of st. Mary the Virgin, Alder
Fmanbury, and the energy of the old
birds in feeding their nestlings has
been a source of delight to many
passers-by.
Last year there was also a wood
pigeons nest in the churchyard of st.
Lawrence Poultney, Cannon street.
This was noticed by Rev. Edgar Goss,
who considers they are migrants from
the London parks, where wood pig
cons now nest in considerable num-
bers.
Even the owl is not unknown in
London, The wife of a resident in
Peckham Rye was startled one day
last summer by a big tawny owl fut-
tering beneath a cherry tree in the
garden. 1t appears to have had its
home in the tower of a neighboring
church, but to have been disturbed by
some alterations which were going on.
Battersea park is a finer place to
e wild birds than many a country
copse. 1t may be that they come to
call upon the Gagged birds there, and,
finding food and protection, stay on.
Chaffinches nest there. The kingfsh-
er is an old resident, and last year
a bullfinch was actually seen. Cherry
bluetits fit from tree to tree. But
these birds do not usually build in
London.
Kew gardens is the finest place in
London for bird life. Nearly so
species breed there. Such rare birds
as the blackcap and the nuthatch nest
in the peaceful trees. The clear blue
eggs of the redstart have been found
in a hollow trunk, and the cheeky lit
tie gold crested wren has built her
pendulous nest from the tips of con-
ifer. Chiffchaffs, wagtails and green
woodpeckers are not uncommon, and
such rare visitors as the hawfinch.
nlght]ar and kestrel are on record.
Hawfnches, by the by, are more COM
mon in Epping forest, ten miles from
London's heart, than almost any,
where else in England.
Perhaps the rarest of any bird that
ever visits London was one which a
correspondent of the Field saw in
Hyde Park last November Is at about
four O'Clock in the afternoon-no
less than a woodcock, which flew up
toward the marble arch. The poor
little bird must have had a longfight
before it could hope to find rest again
for its weary wings. But if London
continues to accumulate fine parks
and open spaces such sights should
not be rare.