Bird Life in a Suburban Parish 51 



iiihiiul place, several inaritinie species have tbiiiKl tliat the 

 ])()()ls and filter-beds and Hooded fields of the sewage- 

 farin afford them suitable food and congenial surroundings, 

 approximating closely to the mud-flats and banks of tidal 

 ooze, so beloved by many of the waders and kindred 

 species. Here, at certain seasons especially, tliey may 

 be observed in munbers wading in the shallow water 

 and busily feeding, just as if they were in some tidal 

 estuary. 



The adjacent marshes afford sport to the Cockney gunner 

 during the winter months. AMien snow lies on the around, 

 and the pools in the forest and elsewhere are covered with 

 ice. many Snipe and Ducks and a few Teal frequent the banks 

 of the old Kiver Lea. as it Avanders in devious course beside 

 the navigable canal. To get these, however, it is necessarv 

 to be up betimes. The first gun over the ground after the 

 grey dawn has broken and the first rays of light h'dve begim 

 feebly to })enetrate the fog, which hangs thickly o\'er 

 the low-lying marshlands on each side of the river, may 

 have good sport in suitable w^eather ; but it is not very 

 encouraging, for one who has three or four miles to tramp 

 ()\ er frozen snow on a foggy December morning before day- 

 break, to find, wlien he arriAcs at the river, footsteps in the 

 snow, which ])rove conclusively that somebody, perhaps one 

 who lives close to the spot, has got the start of him. Such 

 lias been my experience before now, in the days when the gun 

 was more familiar to me than the camera. At other times, 

 waiting for the dawn. I have heard all round me the big 



