142 
NOTES ON LONDON BIRDS IN 1907. 
|Y first note records the appearance of a Fieldfare on 
New Year’s Day by a shrubbery near the bridge across 
the Serpentine. Fieldfares are rarer in town than 
Redwings. I saw a bird of the latter species on 
I'ebruary i, near Hyde Park Corner, and another on February 
7, which was hopping about not far from a hen Blackbird which 
had a good many white feathers on her head ; while on the 20th 
there was a flock of about twenty Redwings in Hyde Park. 
The Black-headed Gulls on the Serpentine began to acquire 
their dark heads during the first week of February. 
After the exquisite week at Easter, the weather became very 
bad, and I searched in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park 
every day for Spring migrants without success until .\pril 23, 
when 1 heard the welcome song of the Willow Wren near the 
Broad Walk in Kensington Gardens, and found about half a 
dozen birds of that species. A good many Willow Wrens 
were there next day, but on the 25th they seemed to have dis- 
appeared. On April 29 my sister saw a Tree Pipit in Cleve- 
land Square. On May 2 I heard another Willow Wren singing 
by the Dell in Hyde Park, although it was a stormy morning, 
with a violent S.W. wind. My sister reported the appearance 
of a House-Martin on the Round Pond on the 5th ; and several 
Wheatears near Stanhope Gate in Hyde Park, and a Spotted 
Fly-catcher in Kensington Gardens, on the 9th. 
On May 8 I heard a Nightingale in full song in a small 
shrubbery nearly opposite Buckingham Palace. It was about 
9.30 a.m., when swarms of people were passing on their way from 
Victoria Station to business. I have rarely been so astounded 
as by the sight of this continuous stream of men pouring past, 
and every one of them apparently deaf to the wild ringing notes 
of the bird. 
1 observed a brood of six newly-hatched Canada Geese in 
Kensington Gardens on May 14, and a few weeks later saw 
another brood of two. The nesting of the Black Swan has 
become so regular that it cannot any longer be considered a 
matter of interest. 
On May 16 a Wood Pigeon took quite a long swim in the 
Serpentine. The bird did not alight on the surface because it 
was tired, nor in order to drink, but deliberately walked into the 
water until it was out of its depth, and then sw'am for several 
yards, flapping its half-opened wings greatly on the surface ; after 
this it rose from the water without any apparent effort and flew 
to the Island. I had never seen such behaviour on the part of 
a Wood Pigeon before. 
Four Sand-Martins and a Swift were flying over the Round 
Pond on May 22, and on the same day I observed Spotted Fly- 
catchers in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. There was 
