London's Bird Life in 1900: Pigeons

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1753 J.POMFRET, 2 POETRY BOOKS IN A VOLUME, WARE LONDON
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TELESCOPE. Henry Barrow & Co London c 1850
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Arthur H. Beavan made a survey of London's bird life, in Imperial London, published in 1901, here discussing the pigeon:

Next in tameness to the sparrow were the pigeons that colonized every suitable portion of our chief buildings: the Custom House; the London Institute, Finsbury Circus; the Royal Exchange; St. Paul's Cathedral, nesting in the north side; the Guildhall; the British Museum, where they roosted amidst the allegorical figures on the tympanum of the pediment; Palace Yard, Westminster, nesting on the north side of the Abbey, and outside Poets' Corner; Charing Cross and other railway-stations; the National Gallery and the Nelson Column; Somerset House; the Law Courts; and the Temple, where they mustered some four hundred strong (not counting casual visitors from the Law Courts who were dropping in and out all day); they were tucked away in cosy nooks and under wonderful old eaves, where you might see them casting a curious, bright eye upon the busy world beneath.

There must have been some thousands of pigeons in London in 1900 calling no man their master, and no place their home.

These ownerless, semi-domesticated pigeons were probably descendants of "blue rock," crossed with ordinary tame birds that strayed away, and must not be confounded with the park ring-doves, popularly known as wood-pigeons.

In these places referred to, one saw all day long the pigeons being fed, often too lazy or indifferent to get out of one's way.

Greedy they were to an alarming extent, and if sharing any favourite food with the sparrows, say at a cab-stand, the pigeons were certain to be the last to rise and escape any threatened danger.

Bigger, and of a different kind, were the ring-doves then so plentiful in Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and St. James' Park, where they nested, and where they seemed to be thoroughly at home.

Though the shyest and most unapproachable of birds in their native woods, they came to be fed on the lawns in flocks, and appeared to have lost every trace of fear; and one of the prettiest sights was the assemblage of these pigeons in the dip by the Hyde Park cascade near Albert Gate, and while sympathetic children assiduously fed them and wondered at the iridescent jewel in their gleaming collars, it was interesting to note the frantic efforts made by these feathered individuals to swallow crusts much too large for birds twice their size.

Next: Bird Life in 1900 London: Sea Gulls