398 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



be regarded as permanently resident in Kensington 

 Gardens, but it is certain that a goodly list might 

 be made of those which have been periodically 

 observed there. Rooks and Jackdaws, from their 

 size, are amongst the most conspicuous. The latter 

 often quit the park for the house-tops, and before 

 the daily traffic has commenced may be seen 

 hovering about the high road, occasionally swoop- 

 ing down to carry off the oats dropped from the 

 nosebag of the cab-horses. There was a time when 

 the Magpie nested in St James's Park, as did the 

 Raven and Kite in Hyde Park ; but those days 

 have long since passed away, and perhaps no 

 observation of the Magpie in Kensington Gardens 

 has been made, or at least recorded, since Yarrell, 

 in his History of British Birds, wrote that he 

 had himself once counted twenty-three there. This 

 statement, to many persons, may seem almost 

 incredible ; but not only does the good authority 

 for it forbid us to doubt it, but it is a fact well 

 known to ornithologists that magpies in autumn and 

 winter assemble in flocks and roost together in 

 plantations, as many as thirty or forty having been 

 counted at one time. 



From its general similarity to a Rook, when seen 

 at a distance, the Carrion Crow probably often 

 escapes notice. It is nevertheless a constant 

 frequenter of Kensington Gardens, and in the 

 summer of 1887 a pair had a nest there from which 

 the young were duly hatched. During the time 

 the young were being reared, the old birds might be 

 seen close to the water's edge foraging for food, 



