64 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
duck pond of King Charles’s time must have looked 
somewhat different from that of to-day, the birds can be 
made as much at home, and they nest peacefully on the 
modern Duck Island, its direct descendant. Moorhens 
and dabchicks, or little grebes, have for the last twenty 
years nested in the Park. They used to leave for the 
breeding season, but since 1883, when the first moorhen 
nested, they have gradually taken to remaining con¬ 
tentedly all through the year, and bring up their young 
there. Birds seem to choose the Park to rest in, and 
many migratory ones have been noticed. Kingfishers 
have recently been let out near the site of the ancient 
bird cages, in the hope that they may carry on the 
historic association. 
The cows, which were a part of ancient history, as 
were the birds, have not been so fortunate. Although 
a newspaper clamour in defence of the cows was raised, 
the few remaining were finally banished in 1905, when 
the alterations in the Mall were made. These survivals 
standing by the dusty stalls could scarcely be called 
picturesque; and although interest undoubtedly was 
attached to them as venerable survivals of an old custom, 
they hardly suggested the rural simplicity of the days 
when cows were really pastured in the Park. For over 
two centuries grazing was let to the milk-women who 
sold milk at the end of the Park, near Whitehall. They 
paid half-a-crown a week, and after 1772 three shillings 
a week, for the right to feed cattle in the Park. A 
Frenchman, describing St James’s at that time, is aston¬ 
ished at its rural aspect. “ In that part nearest West¬ 
minster nature appears in all its rustic simplicity; it is 
a meadow, regularly intersected and watered by canals, 
and with willows and poplars, without any regard to 
