]2 



BIRDS OF -THE CEDARS," LEE, 



BY 



JOSEPH F. GREEN. 



Read at the Meeting of the Society on 22nd April, 1903. 



(j[iJOR about a quarter of a century I have resided more or 

 J* less continuously in the grounds of " The Cedars," at 

 Lee, a suburban oasis of some forty acres, belonging to 

 Mrs. Penn, so laid out that several generations have 

 here learned to excel at our national games, and yet sufficiently 

 wooded to attract and protect a small portion of the animal life 

 that haunts the great Metropolis. So close to London that on 

 an extra still night you may catch a weird echo of sonorous Big 

 Ben, and yet so far afield that you may perhaps at the same 

 time be charmed by the loud clear notes of a nightingale, or be 

 startled by the harsh scream of an owl. Here, as elsewhere, it 

 has been my delight to make notes on all matters appertaining 

 to Natural History, and I therefore give this detailed account of 

 such local fauna as I have seen, so that when the ever-advancing 

 phalanx of bricks and mortar shall have invaded this sylvan 

 spot, a record shall be to hand describing the feathered inmates 

 of the past. 



I must mention that " West Lodge " is a house we built in 

 " The Cedars' " grounds, in 1877, at the opposite end of the 

 grounds to " The Cedars " itself. I must also say that I added 

 a few notes to this paper after reading it. 



1. — Mistle Thrush (Turdus Viscivorus). 



This, the largest of our three resident thrushes, is also the 

 shyest, both as regards choosing a site for its nest, and approach- 

 ing man's habitations. On one of our tennis lawns at " West 

 Lodge " I have frequently seen five or six Mistle Thrushes at a 



