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RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



In summer, one of the commonest small birds in 

 Kensington Gardens is the Spotted Flycatcher. 

 Perched upon one of the lower branches of an elm 

 or chestnut, it may be seen darting into the air to 

 catch a passing insect, and returning to the same 

 branch. Should we wander beyond the boundary 

 fence, and saunter into Hyde Park on a bright 

 morning when the summer birds are beginning to 

 arrive, we may see both the Wheatear and the 

 Whinchat in the open ground between the Maga- 

 zine and the Marble Arch. I have many times 

 seen both these birds there, and on one occasion 

 counted five wheatears in sight at once. Larks 

 also periodically make their appearance on the 

 same ground ; but this is beyond the precincts of 

 Kensington Gardens, where there are yet several 

 other birds to note. 



The House Martins that skim about over the 

 Serpentine and the Round Pond in summer time, 

 live in Westbourne Terrace and other streets in that 

 neighbourhood, where the writer has seen them 

 visiting their nests as late as the first week of 

 October ministering to the wants of a late brood. 



Kingfishers occasionally pay what may be termed 

 "a flying visit" to the Serpentine, and in the 

 summer of 1886 the writer saw one several times 

 at " The Dell," where, in the same summer, two 

 broods of Moorhens were reared. It was very 

 amusing to watch the young birds of the second 

 brood being fed by those of the first brood, not 

 very much bigger than themselves. The Little 

 Grebe, or Dabchick, has been repeatedly seen on 



