132 BIRDS IN LONDON 



abundant as well as the most attractive. During 

 the winters of 1895-6 and 1896-7 I saw them 

 on numberless occasions at Wimbledon, Eich- 

 mond, Hampstead Heath, Bostall Woods, Hack- 

 ney Marsh, Wanstead, Dulwich, Brockwell Park, 

 Streatham, and other open spaces and woods 

 round London. In the gardens of the outer 

 suburbs there is always a great profusion of 

 winter berries, and the felts seen in these places 

 are probably regular visitors. Certainly they 

 are tamer than fieldfares are apt to be in the 

 country, but they seldom penetrate far into the 

 brick- and-mortar wilderness. I have seen a few in 

 Kensington Gardens, and in November, 1896, a 

 few fieldfares alighted on a tree at the Tower 

 of London. Stranger still, in February 1897 a 

 flock of wild geese was observed flying over the 

 Tower : the birds went down the river frying 

 low, as it was noticed that when they passed 

 over the Tower Bridge they were not higher 

 than the pinnacles of the two big towers. 



The birds that are strange to London eyes 

 are very nearly all seen in the autumn, from 

 September to November. At this mutable season 

 a person who elects to spend his nights on the 

 roof, with rugs and an umbrella to keep out 



