SOUTH-WEST LONDON 251 



in spite of all these changes, and the large 

 human population gathered round them, the 

 birds have stuck to their rookery ; and last 

 summer (1897) there were about thirty inhabited 

 nests. 



From Streatham we go back to the river, to 

 a point about a mile and a half west of Wands- 

 worth Common, to Fulham Palace grounds on 

 the Middlesex side, and the open spaces at 

 Barnes on the Surrey side. 



Bishop's Park, Fulham, of which about 1.2 

 acres are free to the public, is one of London's 

 rare beauty-spots. A considerable portion of 

 the palace grounds is within the moat, and the 

 moat, the noble old trees, and wide green 

 spaces, form an appropriate setting to the 

 ancient stately Bishop's Palace. The lamentable 

 mistake has been made of placing this open space 

 in the control of the Fulham Vestry ; and, as might 

 have been expected, they have been improving 

 it in accordance with the gesthetic ideas of the 

 ordinary suburban tradesman, by cutting down 

 the old trees, planting rows of evergreens to hide 

 the beautiful inner grounds from view, and by 

 erecting cast-iron painted fountains, shelters, and 



