230 BIRDS IN LONDON 



Bostell Woods is a favourite haunt of birds'- 

 nestirig boys and youths in summer, and as it is 

 quite impossible to keep an eye on their doings, 

 very few of the larger and rarer species are able 

 to breed there; 'but in the adjoining wooded 

 grounds, belonging to Christ's Hospital, the jay, 

 magpie, white owl and brown owl still breed, 

 and the nightingale is common in summer. 



Not far from Bostell w r e have the Plum- 

 stead and Woolwich Commons, together an 

 area of about 450 acres ; but as these spaces 

 are used solely as recreation grounds, and are 

 not attractive to birds, it is not necessary to 

 describe them. West and south-west of Green- 

 wich, in that rural portion of the South-east 

 district through which our way now lies, the 

 first open space we come to is the Hilly 

 Fields (l5 acres) at Brockley ; a green hill 

 with fine views from the summit, but not a 

 habitation, of birds. A little farther on, with 

 Nunhead Cemetery between, lies Peckham Rye 

 and Peckham Eye Park (113 acres). The Eye, 

 or common, is a wedge-shaped piece of ground 

 used for recreation, and consequently not a 

 place where birds are found. From the 



