June 26, 1891
England.
(no 4)
Chester - pear trees clipped to resemble bee-hives. The
pear trees bore half-grown fruit and blossoms on the
same tree.
  There were no birds in these gardens except Thrushes
and despite the profusion of flowers, no butterflies
nor bees.
  After passing around the Hall (a modern palace
of rather ugly design) we came out on a lawn
and crossing it followed a drive way down a
steep slope to a pond. On the way I saw my
first Missil Thrush, a bird nearly as large as a
Pigeon, with coarsely-spotted breast. It was feeding
on the turf and hopped in a bouncing, rather
awkward manner.
  The pond proved to be a long, narrow, winding
sheet of water covered in places with lily pads
and Polygonum (the latter in full bloom, its
purple heads very like those of the [Umbogy?] species)
and bordered by a thin fringe of tall sedge &
rushes. There did not seem to be nearly cover enough
for Gallinules yet we saw two of these birds here
and another further on. One was walking about
on the turf several yards from the water to
which it ran quickly, the other two swam across
the pond. All three looked exactly like our species
save that the red frontal plate appeared smaller
and less vividly colored. They acted very shy.
Newstead tells me they dive nearly as adroitly
as Grebes. It seemed difficult to explain their
disappearance in any other way for the rushes
were nowhere thick enough to conceal them.