SURVEY OF THE PARKS : WEST LONDON 159 



SO abundant that scores, nay hundreds, may 

 be bought any Sunday morning in the autumn 

 at the bird-dealers' shops in the slums of 

 London, at about two pence per bird, or 

 even less. The wrens a few years ago were 

 reduced to a single pair, and had their nesting- 

 place near the Albert Memorial ; of the pair I 

 believe one bird now remains. Two, perhaps 

 three, pairs of hedge-sparrows inhabited Ken- 

 sington Gardens during the summers of 1896 

 and 1897, but I do not think they succeeded 

 in rearing any young. Nor did the one pair in 

 St. James's Park hatch any eggs. In 1897 a 

 pair of spotted flycatchers bred in Kensington 

 Gardens, and were the only representatives of 

 the summer visitors of the passerine order in all 

 the central parks. 



The robin has been declining for several 

 years ; a decade ago its sudden little outburst 

 of bright melody was a common autumn and 

 winter sound in some parts of the park, and in 

 nearly all parts of Kensington Gardens. This 

 delightful sound became less and less each 

 season, and unless something is done will 

 before many years cease altogether. The blue 

 and cole tits are also now a miserable remnant. 



