NOTES ON LONDON BIRDS IN 1902 89 
before May, a circumstance which, though most unusual, was 
amply accounted for by the weather. 
On May 3 I heard the reed warbler in Kensington Gardens, 
and on May 5 saw my first London swallow flying over the 
Serpentine. About this period the nights became very cold, 
the thermometer at the Royal Humane Society’s premises in 
Hyde Park registering only 33 0 F. during the nights of May 5 
and 6. On the latter day I saw a few sand-martins over the 
Serpentine, and on May 7 there were some swallows and one 
house-martin. 
On May 25 my sister observed a spotted fly-catcher in 
Kensington Gardens, but I did not notice one till the 30th. 
A lesser whitethroat was singing, while rain was falling, close to 
the bridge across the Serpentine on June 6. The willow wren 
is one of the most regular spring visitors to our parks ; but in 
1902 I neither saw nor heard it until July 31. It was a wretched 
year for small birds, and they were mostly late in nesting. I 
found a nest of the reed-warbler near Henley in August, which 
contained young only just hatched, and one egg still in course 
of incubation. I did not see a brood of young London moor- 
hens until August 13. On that day, and on August 14 and 19, 
I heard the willow wren singing in Hyde Park, and on August 
20 saw a redstart in Kensington Gardens. 
On October 11 there was a pied wagtail by the Serpentine, 
and a sand-martin was flying about in the neighbourhood of 
Hyde Park Corner. A pair of Australian black swans hatched 
out of a brood of four young ones on October 14, their nest 
being on the island in the Serpentine. The keeper told me that 
these birds had built a nest in July, and laid five eggs, but that 
they had selected an unfortunately conspicuous site, and the eggs, 
being within the range of boys, had all been destroyed. The nest 
on the island had contained four eggs only. I believe this to be 
the first occasion upon which black swans have bred in Hyde 
Park, though they have done so at the Zoological Gardens, and 
I believe elsewhere in London. Of the four young birds hatched 
in October three survive : the fourth was killed by a dog at the 
end of November. 
On October 27 there was a flock of four linnets in Kensington 
Gardens. During the early autumn thrushes were very quiet, 
but on November 1 one was singing faintly, and on November 
12 there were a fair number in song. On November 17 a 
wren was hopping about the bridge over the Serpentine, a spot 
which is rarely frequented by this species. I saw a fieldfare on 
the morning of December 3 flying across the water in Hyde 
Park. 
A. Holte Macpherson. 
51, Gloucester Terrace, 
Hyde Park, W 
February 1, 1903. 
