64 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



duck pond of King Charles's time must have looked 

 somewhat different from that of to-day, the birds can be 

 made as much at home, and they nest peacefully on the 

 modern Duck Island, its direct descendant. Moorhens 

 and dabchicks, or little grebes, have for the last twenty 

 years nested in the Park. They used to leave for the 

 breeding season, but since 1883, when the first moorhen 

 nested, they have gradually taken to remaining con- 

 tentedly all through the year, and bring up their young 

 there. Birds seem to choose the Park to rest in, and 

 many migratory ones have been noticed. Kingfishers 

 have recently been let out near the site of the ancient 

 bird cages, in the hope that they may carry on the 

 historic association. 



The cows, which were a part of ancient history, as 

 were the birds, have not been so fortunate. Although 

 a newspaper clamour in defence of the cows was raised, 

 the few remaining were finally banished in 1905, when 

 the alterations in the Mall were made. These survivals 

 standing by the dusty stalls could scarcely be called 

 picturesque ; and although interest undoubtedly was 

 attached to them as venerable survivals of an old custom, 

 they hardly suggested the rural simplicity of the days 

 when cows were really pastured in the Park. For over 

 two centuries grazing was let to the milk-women who 

 sold milk at the end of the Park, near Whitehall. They 

 paid half-a-crown a week, and after 1772 three shillings 

 a week, for the right to feed cattle in the Park, A 

 Frenchman, describing St James's at that time, is aston- 

 ished at its rural aspect. " In that part nearest West- 

 minster nature appears in all its rustic simplicity ; it is 

 a meadow, regularly intersected and watered by canals, 

 and with willows and poplars, without any regard to 



