HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
however, changed, and with the removal of trees 
and hedges, building of houses and opening up of 
the Park to the public, bird life became rarer and 
rarer, though everything taken into account, the 
present list of about sixty species must be looked 
at as encouraging for a densely inhabited district 
in the very heart of London. 
The Nightingale, for which old Marylebone 
Park was remarkable, I have only heard on three 
occasions, always near the same spot, a thick lilac 
shrubbery by the Inner Circle roadway, and where 
it was listened to with delight by several persons 
in the early hours of a June morning on two suc- 
cessive days in 1909. Small flocks of the Wheat- 
ear visit the Park about the beginning of April, 
and about the spring of 1909 they were particu- 
larly plentiful, as many as thirty having been 
counted in one flock. Twice during the autumn 
of 1900 I saw a pair of Goldfinches, and on several 
occasions the Grey Linnet and Siskin have paid 
us a visit. 
When the lake was being mudded in 1907 — 8 
a Kingfisher haunted the ground for the small 
roach and gudgeon that got stranded in some of 
the shallow pools. Regularly night and morning 
it visited the spot not seeming the least inconven- 
ienced by the large number of men at work. But 
probably rarest of all is the Great Crested Grebe 
which for fully seven weeks remained on the lake 
during the early part of last summer. The Lesser 
( Irebe has nested at the Northern end of the water 
which, being private, is always looked upon as a 
sanctuary for waterfowl. Twice in the early morn- 
ing I have seen the Sandpiper by the islands on 
the lake, but it is a rare and shy visitor. A pair 
of Herons have taken up their abode on one of the 
islands, and in the evening and early morning may 
be seen fishing in the shallow parts of the water. 
Once only has the Wnterrail been seen on the 
lake where it remained for about a week. 
During the spring of 1911 a Bullfinch was 
regularly fed from the hand with hempseed by a 
visitor to the Park — a most remarkable feat when 
the naturally shy nature of the bird is considered. 
The Barn Owl is not uncommon, as it breeds 
regularly in hollow elms by the lake side, but it is 
oftener heard than seen. Two or three times I 
have seen the Pied Wagtail, but it is rare and 
does not breed, which may also be said of the 
Yellowhammer, Hawfinch and Blackcap, all of 
which I have noticed on rare occasions. 
A liltle flock of the- long-tailed Tit visited my 
garden in 1905 but the}' did not remain long, 
merely flitting from one tree to another all the 
time uttering their somewhat plaintive note to 
each other. The Golden Crested Wren I have 
often seen and the Sedge Warbler by the reeds 
on the lake side. Twice to my knowledge has a 
Cuckoo been reared in the Park, the lost c-r mother 
on each occasion being the Robin and the home 
an ivy-clad wall or building. The Sparrow Hawk, 
evidently not an escape, was seen on several oc- 
casions during the summer of 1913, the fact being 
communicated to the Press by several visitors. 
The Redstart I have repeatedly seen during 
the winter and early spring, and once I saw a Haw- 
finch which is readily detected by its large beak 
and the conspicuous white iris of the eye. A nest 
of Blue Tits was reared bv the Inner Circle road 
in 1908 and again in 1910, but the Great Tit I 
have noticed only once. Regularly for a number 
of years the Missel Thrush bred in a large poplar 
tree in the Park. Chaffinches are rare, but by the 
lake side they may be sometimes detected. The 
Spotted Flycatcher reared its young- for several 
consecutive years from 19081 in the Park, but they 
have quite disappeared of late. 
The Woodcock has more than once been seen 
on Primrose Hill, and in May of 1908 a live speci- 
men was brought to me that had been caught by 
the Flower Garden; and during the long-continued 
drought of 1911 I flushed a Snipe on Marylebone 
Green at 6 a.m. on the 11th of August — a rare 
visitor indeed. 
Towards evening hundreds of Starlings as- 
semble for roosting on the thickly wooded islands 
of the lake, their song at that time being almost 
deafening. During a stormy night in October, 
1906, a most unusual occurrence took place, large 
numbers of these birds being washed to the ground 
and drowned by the heavy and continuous rain. 
Beneath a thorn tree near the centre of one of 
the islands I counted twenty-three dead birds and 
about seventy in othr parts of the adjoining 
grounds. 
SKUNK FARMS IN AMERICA. 
By Pierre Amedee-Pichot. 
(Translated from the Bulletin of the French Ac- 
climatization Society, December, 1915, by F, 
Finn.) 
One of the first documents one requires of an 
individual in the varied circumstances of social 
life is the certificate of his birth; before the estab- 
lishment of the civil state, it was his baptismal 
certificate. In the case of the animal about which 
I am just about to speak, I should have much diffi- 
culty in giving you either the one' or the other; 
its origin is lost in the mists ol ages, and as to 
its name, I have found so man) different appella- 
tions that 1 could not say which is the right "i.. . 
I leave to our scientific friends the task of eluci- 
dating a nomenclature so varied thai the Skunk 
has been called by al least twenty names bv 
naturalists, and thai the differenl species ol it arc 
equally rich in thai synonymy. 
The oldest author who has spoken of it is 
( apu< 
province of Paris. Fathe 
