256 BIRDS IN LONDON 



metropolis. It has the further advantage (from 

 the point of view of the residents) of not being 

 too easy of access to the mass of the people. 

 This makes it ' select,' a semi-private recreation 

 ground for the residents, and a ' Happy Hamp- 

 stead' to a limited number of cockneys of a 

 superior kind. Here the fascinating game of 

 golf, excluded from other public spaces, may 

 be practised ; and the golfer, arrayed like the 

 poppies of the cornfield and visible at a vast 

 distance, strolls leisurely about as his manner 

 is, or stands motionless to watch the far flight 

 of his small ball, which will kill no one and hit 

 no one, since strangers moving about on the 

 grounds are actually fewer than would be seen 

 on the links at Hay ling, or even Minehead. 



It is a solitary place, and its solitariness is 

 its principal charm. A wide open heath, with 

 some pretty patches of birch wood, stretches of 

 brown heather, dotted in places with furze- 

 bushes like little black islands ; but on that 

 part which is called Putney Heath furze and 

 l)iaiiil)le and l)i-ier grow thick and UixiiriaTit. 

 One may hjok fai- in some directions and see 

 no liouses nor othi^i- siiiii of liuman occupancy 

 lo sDoil th<* circcl of scchisioii and wildiu^ss. 



