86 
NOTES ON LONDON BIRDS IN 1905 . 
EFORE January of last year was over, there were many 
indications of the coming of spring. On the 22nd a 
Woodpigeon was sitting on her nest in Norfolk Crescent, 
Hyde Park, and on the next day I heard the spring 
call of the Great Tit. The Black-headed Gulls on the Serpentine 
were early in assuming their breeding plumage, one bird had 
completed its black hood by February 10. So regularly do the 
Black Swans now nest that it is hardly worth while to do more 
than mention that one brood was hatched in Kensington Gardens 
at the end of last March, and another in July, but in spite of 
the persistent and regular way in which nests are made and 
eggs hatched, the numbers do not appreciably increase. 
When one has walked along the banks of the Serpentine and 
Long Water almost every day at about the same hour for eleven 
months in each year for seventeen years, it is possible to guess 
with some degree of accuracy what birds are likely to be seen, 
and also where they will appear. Thus, on the first day which 
has a real feeling of spring in the air Wheatear will probably be 
seen on the open land in Kensington Gardens to the east of the 
water. In 1904 I altogether failed to notice this species in 
London, but last year I had the pleasure of seeing it in Kens- 
ington Gardens on the evening of March 22, which is the earliest 
date in my town experience. No Wheatears were on the open 
ground already alluded to when I passed it on my morning walk, 
but going out of my way to return by the same route in the 
evening in order to work over the ground again, I was rewarded 
by finding a fine male bird. Curiously enough, I only saw one 
other Wheatear in London last spring, a hen bird which was 
being chased by a sparrow in Hyde Park at half-past seven on 
the morning of April 1. Other spring visitors were rather late : 
the Willow Wren was singing in Kensington Gardens on April 26, 
on which day I noticed two broods of ducklings, and on the 
following day some Sand-martins and a House-martin were flying 
over the water. On April 28 the Reed Warbler and another 
Willow Wren were singing in Kensington Gardens, and 1 saw a 
Swallow there. On May n I heard two Reed Warblers, one in 
Kensington Gardens and one on the island in the Serpentine. 
On May 24 a Garden Warbler, a rather scarce visitor, was 
singing in fine style by the banks of the Long Water, and on 
the following day at the same spot I saw and heard a Sedge 
Warbler. On this day also my sister reported seeing the Spotted 
Flycatcher in Kensington Gardens, where I observed some the 
next morning. 
Throughout the summer Swifts may be seen in town every 
now and then, usually in rough and stormy weather : there were 
a few flying over the Round Pond on the evening of June 7, 
and on the 26th of that month I saw several flying very high 
over West Kensington. 
