BIRDS IN LONDON.
Bird sanctuaries in and about London are small in scale compared with such National Parks, but their richness is an ever fresh marvel. No fewer than 08 species nested last year in Richmond Park ; and these included such comparative rareties for• urban districts as hawfinch, nightjar, tree pipit, tree sparrow, whinchat, and all three woodpeckers. A score and more of other species visited the Park, including the peregrine falcon, the goosander, redpole, common sandpiper, and woodcock. Perhaps the visits to Hyde Park are yet more surprising, though, of course, less varied. A little auk took refuge in the Round Pond ; and one woodcock appeared in the garden of the Ranger's Cottage. Quantities of migrants rested in the Park, including the wood wren and redstart. It is a compliment to the healthiness of London that the same old gadwall drake has wintered in Hyde Park for ten con- tinuous years. Snipe are irresistibly attracted to the site of their old marshes, lying along the river, as at Eaton Square. They have appeared in several parks, and one was picked up, alive and kicking, near Liverpool Street Station. The snipe- like sandpiper has shown a similar predilection.
W. BRACE Tames.
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