MOOB-HENS IN HYDE PABK. 
117 
eye, but everywhere their irrepressible gladness 
betrays their proximity ; and all London is ringed 
round with a mist of melody, which presses on 
us, ambitious of winning its w^ay even to the 
central heart of our citadel, creeping in, mist-like, 
along gardens and tree-planted roads, clinging to 
the greenery of parks and squares, and floating 
above the dull noises of the town as clouds, fleecy 
and ethereal, float above the earth. 
Among our spring visitors there is one which is 
neither aerial in habits, nor a melodist, and yet 
is eminently attractive on account of its graceful 
form, pretty plumage, and amusing manners ; nor 
must it be omitted as a point in its favour that it 
is not afraid to make itself very much at home 
with us in London. This is the little moor-hen, a 
bird possessing some strange customs, for which 
those who are curious about such matters may 
consult its numerous biographies. Every spring 
a few individuals of this species make their appear- 
ance in Hyde Park, and settle there for the season, 
in full sight of the fashionable world ; for their 
breeding-place happens to be that minute tran- 
script of nature midway between the Dell and 
Rotten Row, where a small bed of rushes and 
aquatic grasses flourishes in the stagnant pool 
forming the end of the Serpentine. Wliere they 
pass the winter — in what Mentone or Madeira of 
