NOTES ON LONDON BIRDS 
69 
During the first week of February a dabchick was to be seen 
daily on the Serpentine. On February ii a missel thrush was 
singing in Kensington Gardens. The weather towards the end 
of this month was cold, and on Fel)ruary 23 I saw a magpie 
strutting about on the ice near the island in the Serpentine. 
One morning in March 1 witnessed a terrific fight in Kensing- 
ton Gardens between two moorhens. The birds began by 
fighting just like a pair of gamecocks ; but after a time they 
both relapsed into a sitting posture, leaning back and supporting 
tliemselv'es by their wings, while they struck out at each other 
with their feet. I could not wait to see the finish. Neither 
bird appeared to do much damage to his opponent. 
I was out of town at Easter when the spring migrants were 
beginning to arrive. My sister saw several wheatears on April 7 
in Kensington Gardens. On .Vpril 9 I heard the redstart, willow 
wren, and chiflf-chaflf singing there, and saw all three species ; 
and on April loth I found a common sandpiper close to the 
bridge over the Serpentine. Near this same bridge, on April 
25, I had rather a curious e.xperience, for I nearly stepped on a 
budgerigar — the Australian grass parrakeet — which was so busy 
feeding on the ground that it did not notice my approach. 
Escaped cage-birds are not infrequently seen in our London 
parks. 
In May the reed warbler was heard on the i8th singing 
on the Island ; on the 19th several cuckoos were flying about 
Kensington Gardens; on the 21st the spotted flycatcher 
appeared, and on the 27th swallows. In August I saw some 
young flycatchers, but I do not think that many pairs nested 
successfully, although a good many birds of this species were 
to be seen in the Gardens throughout the summer. 
About the middle of June several swifts frequented the 
Serpentine for several days, and once or twice I saw the pied 
wagtail near the water. A pair of moorhens built a nest under 
one of the fountains in Kensington Gardens in the same place 
as last year, but I doubt whether any eggs were laid in it, for 
they shortly afterwards commenced to build another nest in an 
adjoining pond. The new nest was in a circle of wire netting 
which had been erected 10 protect some water-lilies. I first saw 
this nest on July 20, and on the morning of the 25th an egg had 
been laid in it. Although there was a tremendous downpour of 
rain on that morning, the bird was sitting on the nest when 
I went to look at it in the evening. I had a look at the nest 
almost every morning and evening from that time until August 
16, when I went out of town for three days, and always found 
the bird sitting. On the evening of August 19, however, she 
had left the nest, in which only the one egg was visible. The 
birds, however, at once set to work to build another nest in a 
similar circle of netting in the next pond, and on August 27 this 
nest had three eggs in it, but apparently no serious attempt was 
made to incubate them. A few days after this I left town for 
a holiday and do not know whether any more eggs were laid. 
