Produced by Eric EldredBIRDS IN TOWN  VILLAGEBYW H HUDSONFZSAUTHOR OF THE PURPLE LAND IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA FAR AWAY ANDLONG AGO ETC1920PREFACEThis book is more than a mere reprint of _Birds in a Village_ firstpublished in 1893 That was my first book about bird life with someimpressions of rural scenes in England and as is often the case witha first book its author has continued to cherish a certain affectionfor it On this account it pleased me when its turn came to be reissuedsince this gave me the opportunity of mending some faults in theportions retained and of throwing out a good deal of matter whichappeared to me not worth keepingThe first portion Birds in a Village has been mostly rewritten withsome fresh matter added mainly later observations and incidentsintroduced in illustration of the various subjects discussed For theconcluding portion of the old book which has been discarded I havesubstituted entirely new matterthe part entitled Birds in a CornishVillageBetween these two long parts there are five shorter essays which I haveretained with little alteration and these in one or two instances areconsequently out of date especially in what was said with bitterness inthe essay on Exotic Birds for Britain anent the featherwearingfashion and of the London trade in dead birds and the refusal of womenat that time to help us in trying to save the beautiful wild bird lifeof this country and of the world generally from extermination Happilythe last twenty years of the life and work of the Royal Society for theProtection of Birds have changed all that and it would not now be toomuch to say that all rightthinking persons in this country men andwomen are anxious to see the end of this iniquitous trafficW H HSeptember 1919CONTENTSPAGEBIRDS IN A VILLAGEIIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIXXXIEXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAINMOORHENS IN HYDE PARKTHE EAGLE AND THE CANARYCHANTICLEERIN AN OLD GARDENBIRDS IN A CORNISH VILLAGEI TAKING STOCK OF THE BIRDSII DO STARLINGS PAIR FOR LIFEIII VILLAGE BIRDS IN WINTERIV INCREASING BIRDS IN BRITAINV THE DAW SENTIMENTVI STORY OF A JACKDAW    BIRDS IN TOWN  VILLAGEBIRDS IN A VILLAGE IAbout the middle of last May after a rough and cold period there camea spell of brilliant weather reviving in me the old spring feeling thepassion for wild nature the desire for the companionship of birds andI betook myself to St Jamess Park for the sake of such satisfaction asmay be had from watching and feeding the fowls wild and semiwildfound gathered at that favored spotI was glad to observe a couple of those new colonists of the ornamentalwater the dabchicks and to renew my acquaintance with the familiarlongestablished moorhens One of them was engaged in building its nestin an elmtree growing at the waters edge I saw it make two journeyswith large wisps of dry grass in its beak running up the roughslanting trunk to a height of sixteen to seventeen feet anddisappearing within the brushwood sheaf that springs from the bole atthat distance from the roots The woodpigeons were much more numerousalso more eager to be fed  They seemed to understand very quickly thatmy bread and grain was for them and not the sparrows but although theystationed themselves close to me the little robbers we were jointlytrying to outwit managed to get some pieces of bread by flying up andcatching them before they touched the sward This little comedy over Ivisited the waterfowl ducks of many kinds sheldrakes geese from manylands swans black and swans white To see birds in prison during thespring mood of which I have spoken is not only no satisfaction but apositive pain herealbeit without that large liberty that naturegives they are free in a measure and swimming and diving or dozing inthe sunshine with the blue sky above them they are perhaps unconsciousof any restraint  Walking along the margin I noticed three childrensome yards ahead of me two were quite small but the third in whosecharge the others were was a robustlooking girl aged about ten oreleven years From their dress and appearance I took them to be thechildren of a respectable artisan or small tradesman but what chieflyattracted my attention was the very great pleasure the elder girlappeared to take in the birds She had come well provided with stalebread to feed them and after giving moderately of her store to thewoodpigeons and sparrows she went on to the others native and exoticthat were disporting themselves in the water or sunning themselves onthe green bank She did not cast her bread on the water in the mannerusual with visitors but was anxious to feed all the different speciesor as many as she could attract to her and appeared satisfied when anyone individual of a particular kind got a fragment of her breadMeanwhile she talked eagerly to the little ones calling their attentionto the different birds Drawing near I also became an interestedlistener and then in answer to my questions she began telling me whatall these strange fowls were This she said glad to giveinformation is the Canadian goose and there is the Egyptian gooseand here is the kingduck coming towards us and do you see that largebeautiful bird standing by itself that will not come to be fed That isthe golden duck But that is not its real name I dont know them alland so I name some for myself I call that one the golden duck becausein the sun its feathers sometimes shine like gold It was a rarepleasure to listen to her and seeing what sort of a girl she was andhow much in love with her subject I in my turn told her a great dealabout the birds before us also of other birds she had never seen norheard of in other and distant lands that have a nobler bird life thanours and after she had listened eagerly for some minutes and had thenbeen silent a little while she all at once pressed her two handstogether and exclaimed rapturously Oh I do so love the birdsI replied that that was