274 BIRDS IN LONDON 



in no other spot in the metropolis, or which 

 have elsewhere become exceedingly rare. Thus, 

 Kensington Gardens alone, of all the interior 

 parks, possesses the owl and the jackdaw ; St. 

 James's Park is distinguished by its large num- 

 ber of wood-pigeons and its winter colonies 

 of black-headed gulls; Battersea Park by its 

 wrens and variety of small delicate songsters, 

 both resident and migratory, and its vast con- 

 gregation of starlings in late summer and early 

 autumn ; Wandsworth Common by its yellow- 

 hammers ; Gray's Inn Gardens and Brockwell 

 Park by their rookeries ; Streatham by its 

 nightingales, magpies, and jays ; Eavenscourt 

 Park by its missel-thrushes ; Finsbury Park by 

 its large numbers of thrushes and blackbirds. 

 In Kew Gardens the tree-pipit, pied wagtail, 

 and wryneck are more common than elsewhere ; 

 Richmond Park has its heronry and a vast 

 multitude of daws ; Wanstead has the turtle- 

 dove and hawfinch, and with its land and water 

 birds of all sizes, from the goldcrest to the 

 heron, mallard, and rook, may claim to possess 

 in its narrow limits a more abundant and varied 

 wild bird life than any other metropolitan open 

 space. 



