NOTES AND QUERIES. Q7 
sea-level. The hatching was much farther advanced than at the Auckland 
Islands. On January 3lst the day broke beautifully, and the bay was like 
a mirror, but the glass was still low. As the day advanced, we were 
enveloped for half-an-hour in one of those dense mists characteristic of this 
part of the world, and when it passed, the hills were covered with snow. 
The height of the island (Antipodes) is marked on the chart at 600 feet; 
but this is an error, as the principal hill, Mount Galloway, is 1200 feet 
above the sea level. From seaward this hill looks conical or dome-shaped, 
but on reaching the summit a beautiful clear lake, covering an area of 
thirteen or fourteen acres, is found—a lake which, a little later in the season 
than the time of our visit, is much frequented by the Albatross, being 
virtually surrounded by thousands of their nests. We moved on north- 
wards (Stewart Island), and came on a perfect cemetery of dead Penguins 
lying rotting amidst black sand—thousands upon thousands—evidently 
cut off by some epidemic.” 
Birds in the London Parks.—It is a pleasure to be able to report 
the increase of any wild bird in the London Parks, as has been done by 
Mr. W. H. Tuck in ‘The Zoologist’ for October last (p. 389). I can 
corroborate his remarks regarding the Wood Pigeon in several particulars. 
I noticed the coming of the first pair some five years ago, and have watched 
their gradual increase up to the present year, when about ten pairs must 
have bred. One pair had two nests in an elm tree in St. James’s Park, 
close to Birdcage Walk. The first pair that came to town made their nest 
in Buckingham Palace Gardens, in a chestnut tree overhanging Grosvenor 
Road. I have often seen from forty to fifty feeding on the lawn to the 
north of Rotten Row; but I was both astonished and delighted one day to 
count no less than sixty on the ground at one time. Since then the 
bulk have gone out of town for the winter, but a few may be seen about, 
more particularly im St.James’s Park. Let us hope that their immunity from 
danger in London may not be followed by their destruction in the country, 
and that they may return in the spring to breed again in the Metropolis. 
On the other haud, Iam sorry to have to report the decrease or disappearance 
of other interesting species. In the first place, the Rook—so common twenty 
years ago in the West End of London—is now all but extinct. I remember 
three rookeries in Kensington Gardens, one in Hyde Park, small ones in 
Mayfair and Marylebone Road, and a substantial one in Holland Park, 
all of which are now things of the past. The only rookery I was able to find 
im the West End last summer was one consisting of five nests in Stanhope 
_ Place; only one of the five pairs, I believe, succeeded in rearing a brood. 
This is to be regretted ; but the total disappearance of a colony of Martins 
which had defied the interruptions of the house-painters for many years past 
at the south end of Westbourne Terrace is equally to be deplored. Last, 
but not least, is to be noted the absence—for the first time during twenty- 
