BIRDS IN LONDON S8l 



autumnal foliage; and on the leaf- strewn 

 margin, and on the water, the company of birds 

 in repose. But the principal element in the 

 beauty of the scene — that which gave it its 

 novelty and rare charm — was the effect of the 

 contrast in the colours of bird and foliage — the 

 dark olive brown and slate black of the moor- 

 hens and the intense yellows and copper reds of 

 the big horse-chestnut leaves. 



The eighty -two birds which I had seen 

 together were not all, probably not one-half nor 

 even one-third, of the entire number in the park. 

 On resuming my walk round the lake I continued 

 to see moorhens, on or by the water, in parties 

 of three or four to a dozen ; and on going with 

 the keeper in his canoe to the reeds, this part of 

 the lake was found to be fuU of them. 



The starling is another London species that 

 continues to multiply in an extraordinary way, 

 and in the summer of '98 their gatherings at 

 their favourite roosting islands, at Finsbury, 

 Regent's, and Battersea Parks, and on the island 

 in the Serpentine, were larger than ever. The 

 long drought and excessive heats must have 

 made it hard for all these birds to find food 



