BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 

 I 



About the middle of last May, after a rough 

 and cold period, there came a spell of brilliant 

 weather, reviving in me the old spring feeling, 

 the passion for wild nature, the desire for the 

 companionship of birds; and I betook myself to 

 St. James's Park for the sake of such satisfaction 

 as may be had from watching and feeding the 

 fowls, wild and semi-wild, found gathered at that 

 favored spot. 



I was glad to observe a couple of those new 

 colonists of the ornamental water, the dabchicks, 

 and to renew my acquaintance with the familiar, 

 long-established moorhens. One of them was 

 engaged in building its nest in an elm-tree grow- 



