The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-11-25
WILD BIRDS IN LONDON.
SOME SPECIES FLOURISH IN = SOUND OF rFOW BELLS"

The Pigeons of the Parks and the GuIIs
 of the mbankment-Changes Which
 City Life Has wrought in the Habit
 of the Ring Doves-wndfow Upon
 the serpentine. s...
 The fouI-mile radius may not seem to those who know it best to be a par ticularly well-favored spot for the study of that life of the wild birds which finds it's favorite home in deep- foliaged Kentish orchard or the green levels of a Hampshire water-meadow. Every year Londoners must go little farther afeld to hear the note of the cuckoo or the nightingale, or to see the sickle winged swallows sweeping in April over the springing verdure. And yet, in spite of the endless advance of brick and asphalt, and the consequent eviction over an ever-increasing area of so many of our most beautiful species, it is none the less true that bird life does flourish, and shows every sign of continuing to flourish, within sight and sound of the most ffercely throb- ping centres of metropolitan activity. It is actually true that in London there are opportunities every day for study ing phases of bird life which are never to be enjoyed at allsin many rural neighborhoods, and there are wild birds which have found sanctuary in the midst of London which may be searched for in vain over wide tracts ot country where the farmer and the game -preserver are their inveterate and ever-present enemies.
 The carrion crow, for instance, that sinewy freebooter, is far commoner within the range of the suburban omnibuses, and even in the central London parks and squares than in many southern and midland counties, where he has been practically exter- minated over large districts in defence of young pheasants and cartridges and their eggs, not to mention the henwifes, chickens and ducklings. No bird is so thorough an Ishmaelite and robber, and even in his London life he bears himself toward humanity with a call culating coolness which never becomes confidence or friendly tameness. He is often mistaken for one of the rocks which still keep up an isolated colony or two in the vast area of London chimney pots, though in point of fact he is as bitter an enemy of the sober and peaceable rocks as of the pheasant or the farmyard hen. His hoarse croaking note, by no means difficult to fcxf fc1, the cav of the rock, may often be heard in Regents Park or Kensington Gardens, and with a little trouble his lean evil-looktng figure may be de- scribed perched on some jutting bough of an elm, keenly on the lookout for whatever he may rend and devour with his powerful pointed bill. Often, too, he may be seen in one of the squares to the north of Oxford Street, poised in a tree top or sometimes on a church spire in that characteristic attitude, shoulders raised and bill thrust for ward, in which he and his big brother, the raven, and familiar in Japanese nature paintings. Though his num- bers in London are mainly kept up by wandering contingents, he breeds liOl III tH6 ana can make himself at home at a pinch wherever there are refuse heaps or other places where he can gratify the unpleasant tastes hinted at in his specific name. He is a desperate scoundrel of bird life is the lean black carrion crow, and yet all the same there is something distinctly taking about him as seen in city surroundings, with his Arab-like contempt for civili- zation and all it's ways stamped on every attitude and action.
 There is striking contrast to the carrion crows ingrained aloofness and wariness in the behavior of two quite recent additions to Londoners' wild pets. the pigeons of the parks, and the gulls of the Embankment and the orna- mental waters These birds, be it noted altogether unlike the species which have fled, it is to be feared forever, to the cleanliness and peace of country scenes, have actually chosen to take ur their quarters in London during quite recent years, and both supply wonder ful examples of how, if there be good and sufficient reason, the instincts and habits of centuries may be abandoned