BIRDS IN LONDON 279 



At Clissold Park, in the summer of 1897, a single 

 pair of moorhens successfully reared no fewer 

 than twenty-one young birds. It was thought 

 an astonishing thing in 1837 when one pair of 

 blackbirds on the island at St. James's Park reared 

 seventeen young in a season, in four broods, 

 three of five birds each, and the last of two. 

 But this was nearly half a century before the 

 advent of the moorhen, and the Clissold Park 

 pair now hold the record. 



It can hardly be doubted that most of the 

 young birds, perhaps as many as 80 per cent, are 

 annually driven to seek for places outside of 

 London, strongly attached as they are to the 

 parks, where they are sheltered and protected 

 and life is made easy for them. In autumn 

 moorhens are often excessively abundant in any 

 sheltered water on the borders of the metropolis : 

 the majority of these are probably London birds 

 on their travels in search of winter quarters. 

 On October 24 I was astonished at the numbers 

 I saw at Wanstead Old Park. Walking round 

 the lake I saw at one end of Lincoln Island a 

 gathering of eighty-two birds. As they were at 

 rest I was well able, by the aid of a binocular, to 



