252 BIRDS IN LONDON 



other architectural freaks of a similar character. 

 That the inhabitants of Fulham can see unmoved 

 this vulgarisation of so noble and beautiful a 

 remnant of the past the spot in London which 

 recalls the moated Bishop's Palace at Wells 

 is really astonishing. 



To the bird-lover as well as to the student 

 of history this is a place of memories, for here 

 in the time of Henry VIII. spoonbills and herons 

 built their nests on the old trees in the bishop's 

 grounds. At the present time there are some 

 sweet songsters thrush, blackbird, robin, dun- 

 nock, wren, chaffinch, and a few summer visi- 

 tants. Here, too, we find the wood-pigeon, but 

 not the ; ecclesiastical daw ' or other distin- 

 guished species, and, strange to say, no moat- 

 hen in the large old moat. How much more 

 interesting this water would be, with its grass- 

 grown banks and ancient shade-giving trees, 

 if it had a few feathered inhabitants ! Simply 

 by lowering the banks at a few points and 

 planting some reeds and rushes, it would quickly 

 attract those two very common and always 

 interesting London species, the moorhen and the 

 little grebe. The sedge- war bier, too, would per- 

 haps come in time. 



