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JOURNAL Ol' THE WILD BIRD I.WESTKJATIOX SOCIETY. 



May Wheatears loiter for a few days in the 

 open parts here, but they pass on to nest else- 

 where. The less fastidious Whinchats stay 

 and build and may be constantly seen, and 

 heard singing their chattering songs. Here 

 again is a glade where the trees are fine and 

 tall, which seems to be a favourite haunt of 

 Redstarts, and liere too the Tree-Creeper 

 winds its way round the trunks in its ceaseless 

 search for insects, and the bubbling notes of 

 the Nuthatch fall on the ear, or a Green 

 Woodpecker hangs motionless for a minute 

 on a branch, then darts across the patli and 

 away out of sight. This part of the Park 

 borders a plantation known as Sidmouth 

 Wood, where the Herons build and the Xight- 

 jar sometimes spends its summers, but for the 

 last year or two it seems to have deserted the 

 Park. On the Penn Ponds the Great Crested 

 Grebe brteds, and so do Coots, Moor-Hens 

 and Mallards. 



'llie largest enclosure in the Park is tlie 

 Isabella Plantation. Like the others, it con- 

 sists of fine trees, with a tangle of Rhododen- 

 drons beneath them, tlirough which it is im- 

 possible to pass. IMost birds do not seem to 

 like the rather stuffy atmosphere of the thick 

 undergrowth, but the Great Spotted Wood- 

 pecker apparently nests in this safe place, for 

 it may sometimes be seen flying from tree to 

 tree or heard rattling in the spring. In the 

 holes in the trees just outside the plantation 

 Stock-Doves nest: Turtle-Doves come in tlie 

 summer, and Ring-Doves are common. This 

 does not end the list of Park birds, for 

 the Swallows and Martins iiave not been men- 

 tioned, neither have Kestrels nor Owls, nor 

 the occasional wanderers like the Hawfinches, 

 nor several others. But it has shewn perhaps 

 that witliin a few miles of tlie largest cit\' in 

 the world more birds are to be seen than most 

 people imagine. 



Between Richmond and London, bv tlie 



Thames at Chiswick and Kew, man\- of the 

 birds already mentioned may be seen again, 

 ;md others swell the list. Reed-Warblers sing 

 loudly into the unnoticing ears of the streams 

 of people that pass along the towing path on 

 Sundays. Kingfishers are not infrequentlv to 

 be seen, and sometimes as many as a dozen 

 Little Grebes come, no doubt from frozen 

 waters. Occasionalh- in the winter lime, too. 

 Teal appear with' the Mallard. The Black- 

 headed Gulls worr}- the Tufted Duck in hard 

 weatiier, attempting to take the fish the\" 

 catch, but the Duck seem to know how to look 

 after themselves. Kiltiwakes come up the 

 ri\'er in fair numliers, but the\" are not so 

 common as the Hlack-headed species. Pied 

 \\^agtails stay all the year roimd, and twice 

 a vear, in Spring and Autumn, the Grev 

 Wagtail makes its appearance for a few davs. 

 Among all tlie different songs thai ring out 

 to the river's edge from Kew Gardens in the 

 summer time the Lesser AA''hitethroat's rather 

 monotonous notes may sometimes be distin- 

 guished. The Nightingale not verv long ago 

 a frequenter of the Gardens, was heard again 

 last May. Towards the end of summer, when 

 (mlv the Robin sings, the Swallows, House- 

 and Sand-Martins visit the river in vast num- 

 bers to feed on the tiny flies that swarm in 

 mvriads over the surface of the water : — 



"Hedge-crickets sing; and now wiUi treble soft 

 The redbreast wliistles from a garden croft : 

 And gathering swallows twitter in the skies." 



Graduallv the Swallow swarms diminish; a 

 few birds linger on imtil October, but 

 although there is a feeling of regret at their 

 departure , because it means thai winter is 

 approacliing, «hal does it matter? Tiie\- \\ill 

 come again, and in the months before the\- 

 come there are many other things to see — the 

 Fieldfares, the Redwings and the Gulls, and 

 perhaps others that have never appeared 

 before. 



