SOUTH-WEST LONDON 241 



has within the last few years been transformed 

 into the most popular open-air resort in the 

 metropolis. The attempt to please everybody 

 usually ends in pleasing nobody ; at Battersea 

 the dangerous experiment has been tried with 

 success ; for no person would be so unreasonable 

 as to look for that peculiar charm of wildness, 

 which still lingers in Bostell Heath and "Wim- 

 bledon Common, in a garden planted in a marsh 

 close to the heart of London. The ground has 

 certainly been made the most of: the flat 

 surface has been thrown into mounds, dells, 

 and other inequalities ; there are gardens and 

 rockeries, large well-grown trees of many kinds, 

 magnificent shrubberies, and, best of all, a pretty 

 winding lake, with an area of about 16 acres, 

 and large well-wooded islands on it. Besides the 

 attraction which the beautiful grounds, the 

 variety of plants and of ornamental water-fowl 

 and other animals have for people generally, 

 crowds are drawn to this spot by the facilities 

 afforded for recreations of various kinds — 

 boating, cycling, cricket, tennis, &c. This 

 popularity of Battersea is interesting to us 

 incidentally when considering its wild bird life, 

 for it might be supposed that the number of 



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