268 BIEDS IN LONDON 



the crow is not now allowed to build in the 

 gardens ; the nightingales have decreased to 

 a very few birds during the last three or four 

 seasons ; and last summer (1897) the wood-wren 

 failed to put in an appearance. To say that 

 there will be other and greater changes is 

 unhappily only too safe a prophecy to make. 

 For several years past tree-felling has been 

 vigorously prosecuted in the gardens to give 

 them a more open park-like appearance ; new 

 gravelled roads have been laid down in all 

 directions, and the policy generally has been 

 that of the landscape-gardener which makes for 

 prettiness, with the result that the aspect and 

 character of this spot have been quite altered, 

 and it is fast becoming as unsuitable a breeding 

 place for the summer warblers and other shy 

 woodland species as any royal west-end park. 



Up till two months ago, it was some consola- 

 tion to those who grieved at the changes in 

 progress in Kew Gardens to think that the 

 Queen's private grounds adjoining were safe 

 from the despoiler. This area is separated 

 from the gardens by nothing but a wire fence ; 

 one could walk the entire breadth of the grounds 

 with that untrimmed, exquisitely beautiful 



