12 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
Swan is also represented, and there is a considerable flock of 
geese, among which may be seen the Chinese, Bean, Bernicle, 
and White-fronted, while some magnificent New Holland 
Cereopsis occupy a small islet where they spend a greater part of 
the day grazing the short turf, and descending but very rarely 
to the water. From time to time a flock of Wild Duck, 
numbering from six to two dozen, may be seen circling high 
in the air over the lake, and settling simultaneously with a 
loud splash on the bosom of the still water. These flocks 
constantly leave Battersea to visit the lake at St. James’s, and 
return, often accompanied by other birds, to their roosting or 
breeding places, thus offering to the Londoner a glimpse of 
nature both instructive and refreshing in the turmoil of a 
great city. How intensely this rural scene is appreciated by 
the dwellers in our great Metropolis can be amply verified by 
any one who will visit the Park on Sundays and holidays, the 
quantity of bread thrown to the birds by the working classes 
being so enormous that upon Bank Holiday, 1886, men were 
employed to fish up the crusts rejected by the satiated birds, 
of which I am credibly informed more than two large cart-loads 
were removed. 
Other Parks and Zoological gardens in England possess 
interesting collections of waterfowl, among them being that 
at Sheffield, and at Clifton, near Bristol, where the Pintail, 
Golden Eye, Pochard, Diver, and many other species enjoy 
liberty on a charmingly laid out piece of water surrounded 
with turf and shadowing trees. 
As Mr. Sclater remarked in the address hereafter 
quoted, it is greatly to be desired that some of our landowners 
who possess suitable grounds, should devote themselves to 
forming living collections of the beautiful birds of which 
I write. Ornithology received a severe blow in the death 
