PREFACE. 



The recent great development of Hampstead as a residential 

 locality has made the well-known Middlesex hill really a part of 

 the metropolis. But although now joined to London, it still 

 possesses many of those charms of Nature usually sought much 

 further afield, and Hampstead Hill remains a happy hunting- 

 ground for the naturalist. 



That London has within its borders an area where the Botanist, 

 the Entomologist, and the Ornithologist, as well as the Geologist, 

 may profitably pursue their favourite studies in the field, is a 

 remarkable fact ; and to draw attention to this interesting feature 

 of the great city, as well as to give the residents of Hampstead an 

 increased pleasure and an additional interest in their delightful 

 neighbourhood, is the object of the following pages. 



The first section of this little book consists, with a few alter- 

 ations and additions, of the matter of a series of articles that 

 appeared in The Hampstead and Highgate Express, to the 

 courteous proprietor of which my thanks are due for permission 

 to reprint those articles, and for the use of some of the blocks 

 required for the illustrations. 



I have also to thank the Council of the Geologists' Association 

 for allowing me to avail myself of the Geological Map of Hamp- 

 stead which appeared in the third volume of the " Proceedings " 

 of that Association, in illustration of a Paper by the late Mr. 

 Caleb Evans, F.G.S. 



