88 
NOTES ON LONDON BIRDS IN 1899 . 
ton 
fHE following extracts from my diary form a continuation 
of the notes which I have contributed to this magazine 
for some years past. They are chiefly the results of 
observations made during my walks through Kensing- 
Gardens and Hyde Park to my work each morning and 
during my return journey in the evening. 
On January 3 I saw a greenfinch near the band-stand in 
Hyde Park. The black-headed gulls which now frequent 
London in such large numbers every winter are becoming more 
used to the presence of human beings : they feed regularly with 
the ducks and moorhens on the path opposite the island in the 
Serpentine every morning. The first blackbird’s song which I 
heard was in Kensington Gardens on February 9. While sitting 
at home reading on the evening of March 3, I thought I heard 
the hoot of a barn-owl : the next morning my sister remarked 
that she thought she had heard an owl during the night, so 
probably my ears had not deceived me. 
A woodpigeon was sitting on her nest on March 8 : the nest 
was close to the railings on the south side of Piccadilly, near 
Walsingham House. On March 12, during a Sunday morning 
bicycle ride before breakfast, I inspected a crow’s nest in a tree 
on the south side of Hyde Park, not far from the Albert Hall. I 
believe that this nest was subsequently deserted. A few days 
afterwards, when bicycling down the Hammersmith Road, I 
noticed another large nest ; it was on a tree close to Addison 
Bridge, and was, I believe, built by a pair of rooks. On April i 
my .sister told me she had seen a chiff-chaff in Kensington 
Gardens. About this time I crossed the Channel and spent 
Easter on the French coast near Dieppe, where the weather was 
horrible. On my return to England the weather was still stormy 
and unsettled. On Sunday, April 9, I saw two small warblers 
early in the morning in Kensington Gardens, w'hich were pio- 
bably chiff-chaffs ; also a wren — the first I had seen in London 
for some time. On the i8th, a willow wren was singing near 
the Round Pond, and on this day I first saw young ducklings. 
On the 19th, I took a walk in Richmond Park and found various 
spring arrivals, — the redstart, yellow wagtail, cuckoo, tree pipit, 
and blackcap. On April 20 my sister saw a swallow in Ken- 
sington Gardens ; on the 22nd a sand martin ; and on the 23rd 
a wheatear and a redstart. On the 24th there were two sand 
martins flying over the Serpentine ; and on the 25th a willow 
wren was singing near the middle of Hyde Park, although it 
was raining at the time. On April 26 I saw, to my surprise, a 
red-crested cardinal, which had no doubt escaped from captivity, 
feeding on a lawn in Kensington Gardens ; and on the same day 
heard three or four willow wrens. On April 28, the reed 
warbler was singing in Hyde Park, and I saw sand martins. 
