Bird Notes <^ News 



Vol. V. ] 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 :: :: FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS :: :: 



MARCH, 1912. 



[No. I. 



A Holiday with the Birds in Paris. 



The Essay for which the R.S.P.B. Silver Medal in the Public-school Essay 

 Competition, 1911, was awarded to Percy Worthington (Harrow). 



The second largest city in Europe is 

 scarcely the spot which one would natur- 

 ally choose for studying birds in their 

 wild state ; yet there are probably few 

 parts of France which can boast so large 

 a number of species in so small an area. 

 The principal haunt of the birds in Paris 

 is the Bois de Boulogne, which Ues on 

 the west side of the city, between it and 

 the river Seine. It comprises an area 

 of 2,000 acres of woodland, intermixed 

 with open grassy spaces, the largest of 

 these being the racecourses of Auteuil and 

 Longchamps, Water — absence of which 

 spoils the fine forest of Fontainebleau 

 for the ornithologist — is plentiful, as there 

 are a number of lakes and two or three 

 small and rather sluggish streams. The 

 Bois is broken up by a number of carriage 

 roads which furnish easy access to its 

 different parts. Two large enclosures 

 call for special notice, namely the Pre 

 Catalan and Bagatelle ; the former is an 

 open park, the shrubberies of which are 

 much frequented by birds in the nesting- 

 season ; the latter is the country residence 

 and garden of the late Sir Richard Wallace, 

 and was bequeathed by him to the city. 

 It has only lately been thrown open to 

 the pubhc, and owing to its seclusion 

 was long a haven for the shyer species, 

 and it also harboured the last of the 

 squirrels. On two sides the Bois adjoins 



directly the houses of Boulogne and 

 Neuilly, but between it and Paris proper 

 is the line of the now obsolete fortifica- 

 tions, whose wide and deep ditch is one 

 of the best places for nests, particularly 

 of the Warblers. It has an unsavoury 

 reputation as the haunt of apaches, but 

 its thick reeds and grass, plantations and 

 trees overgrown by festoons of wild 

 clematis are a real attraction for the bird- 

 lover. On the fourth side the Bois abuts 

 on the Seine, and just across this he the 

 big woods of Meudon and St, Cloud ; 

 plantations and coppices connect these 

 by way of Vaucresson and Rocancourt 

 with the large forest of St. Germain. 

 It is probably by reason of these that a 

 number of species, which one scarcely 

 expects to meet in such close proximity 

 to a large town, enter the Bois. 



But, besides the Bois de Boulogne — 

 the Bois to a Parisian — the Bois de 

 Vincennes, the spacious tree-lined avenues 

 with their quiet gardens, the fine parks, 

 and the large cemeteries Uke Pere 

 Lachaise, planted in the middle of a 

 populous quarter, all yield their quota 

 of avian inhabitants. The ubiquitous 

 Sparrow and the adaptable Jackdaw 

 exist quite happily in the forest of brick 

 and chimneys, without any regard to the 

 vegetable world. 



To those who think that a town 



