18 MAY 1901, Page 15

THE BIRDS OF LONDON.

[TO TEE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."]

Sin,—As the owner of the cockatoo seen by your corre- spondent in Chelsea Hospital Gardens has not written to set that gentleman's mind at rest, may I inform him that I have seen and heard the bird disporting himself there for several years past? Its residence is, I believe, in one of the artisans' dwellings in Commercial Road just behind Lower Sloane Street, from a window of which it is allowed to go and come at its own sweet will. As to the birds of Battersea Park, it may be of interest to remark that I have on recent occasions seen a magpie there, whether a voluntary immigrant from more secluded regions or not I do not know; and a white blackbird is another of its interesting inhabitants.—I am, Sir, 87 Union Grove, Clapham, S.W. GILBERT J. ARROW.