92 
NATURE NOTES. 
they last, make our climate a paradise. Pleasanter still would it be if those lofty 
walls could be scaled, the barred gates opened, and leave be given to stroll at 
large through the broad meads beyond stretching down to the Thames. Hampton 
Court Paddocks they are called, but Hampton Court Park would be a nobler 
name. By all means let the dignified pensioners who dwell in the apartments of 
the once royal palace continue to enjoy the pleasure of wandering in the ample 
grounds around them, but let them share their delight with the outer world, and 
especially that part of it which lies just across the stream in the crowded suburbs 
of Kingston and Surbiton. 
It was but the other day, and since the above was written, that a deputation 
of the leading inhabitants waited on Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, with a petition that the 
paddocks might be thrown open to the public, and the result was a promise that 
he would use his best endeavour, in the proper quarter, to secure the opening of 
as much of the domain as was possible. Such a friend of the Open Spaces Move- 
ment as the present First Commissioner of Works may safely be relied upon to 
give the matter the fullest consideration — a consideration that will surely. lead to 
one issue only — the abolition of such an anomaly as a royal park open to a select 
few and rigorously barred against the many. 
Here we leave the subject — one fraught with deep interest, for it concerns the 
welfare of the nation at large. Much more might have been said, but our only 
endeavour has been to throw a side light on some of the difficulties, encourage- 
ments, hopes, and fears, of those who work in the cause of Open Spaces. 
ARCIIIBAl.n Cl.ARKE. 
SELBORNIANA. 
To Chureli Decorators. — May I be allowed to protest against what seems to 
me to be a most undesirable novelty in church decoration ? I allude to the digging 
up of primrose plants — roots, leaves, flowers and all — and using them embedded 
in moss for the adornment of the base of the font. The eventual fate of the 
unhappy flowers I do not know, but as they were used in a town church, it is not 
unlikely that they were simply thrown away. 
No one likes to see a church properl)" decorated more than I do, and of all 
decorations none are more charming and cheering than those of the Easter 
festival, coming, as they do, after the gloom of Lent ; but surely a line might be 
drawn at the use of cut flowers, or of ordinary plants in pots. Moreover, it is 
quite possible that the primrose roots in question were obtained without the con- 
sent of the person on whose land they grew, and were like some holly, of which 
an old-fashioned clerk once said in my hearing — “That’s got for me, and I never 
asks no questions.” Julian G. Tuck. 
Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmimds. 
Easter Custom at Capri. — The following extract from a letter just re- 
ceived from Capri may prove of interest : — 
“ They have a curious custom here, w'hich I believe is peculiar to Capri. On the 
Saturday in Holy Week, at the High Mass, the people bring little birds. When 
the ‘ Gloria ’ begins they let them all fly in the church as a symbol of the 
Resurrection. It sounds so pretty and poetical, but we went to see it, and it was 
so sad to see the poor little birds — some held in pocket-handkerchiefs, some 
stuffed into boys’ pockets, others pinched up in their hands, or held by the legs 
and allowed to flutter their wings ; some could not fly when they were let out, 
and fell down to the ground ; but many flew up to the roof of the church, trying 
to perch here and there. What happens to them I do not know, as the windows 
do not open. They say the priests catch them and eat them 1 There are such 
lovely little birds here, and they shoot them all. A man brought a quantity (dead) 
to sell the other day — such lovely little things ! and among them three hoopoes.’ 
Is there no branch of the Society in Italy which might use its influence to stop 
the wholesale slaughter of the lovely little creatures? 
A'eiu/iouse, Salisbury. Mary Eyre Match.\m. 
