LONDON BIRDS 37 



There are probably men living still who have shot 

 Snipe where Belgrave Square now stands. It is said 

 that a very little time ago it was not uncommon to 

 flush one in Hyde Park, between Victoria Gate and the 

 Marble Arch; but the improvements of the last few 

 years have probably banished them, at least till the 

 days of Lord Macaulay's New Zealander. One reads 

 occasionally of Woodcock picked up in the streets. A 

 case of the kind was not long ago recorded in the Field. 

 The poor bird had shared a common fate, and had 

 broken his wing against a telegraph wire in flying over 

 at night. 



Letters in the newspapers told also of a Woodcock 

 having flown by Buckingham Palace in the direction 

 of Hyde Park at midday on the 21st October, 

 1884. In May of the same year a Dunlin and, not 

 long after, a Sandpiper were seen feeding by the 

 Serpentine. 



Passing on to the sixth and last order, the webfooted, 

 the ornamental waters in the parks are so well stocked 

 with the different breeds of Ducks, that it is impossible 

 to say to what extent they are frequented by genuine 

 wildfowl. There is no doubt, though, that the number 

 of occasional visitants is considerable; and, of those 

 who are permanently quartered on the Serpentine, 

 many fly strongly, and are, to all intents and purposes, 

 wild birds. 



Unlike most of us, their hours in London and the 

 country are much the same. Flighting-time just as 

 the last remains of the blurred red and blue which 



