The hill which rises beyond the ponds and stretches away to the east, is part of the land adjoining the true Heath, which was bought in 1887, so as to double the area of open country, and prevent that side of the Heath being overlooked by houses. The character is quite a contrast, and lacks the wildness, but it is pretty, park-like scenery, and Hampstead Heath would have been greatly spoilt had this further wide space of pasture land not been saved. The first hill to the east of the Heath is crowned by a mound or tumulus, which was opened a few years ago; the investigations leading scientists to believe that it was a British burial-place of the bronze age. This used to be very picturesque with a group of Scotch firs--now, alas! all dead. The next hill is Parliament or Traitor’s Hill, and there is no very definite solution of the name. It may have been a meeting-place of the British “Moot” or Parliament, or the origin may only be traced to Cromwell’s time. As if to encourage the tradition being kept up, a stone suggests that meetings may take place within 50 yards of the spot by daylight. Below the hill are flat meadows by Gospel Oak, said to be so named from its being a parish boundary, and the Gospel was read under the tree to impress the parishioners, with the same object as the other and more familiar form of beating the bounds. These Gospel Oak fields are the typical London County Council greens for games, so gradually, after leaving the summit of the Heath, the descent is made, from the artistic and picturesque, to the practical and prosaic. Hampstead was always famous for its wild flowers. The older botanists roamed there in search of rare plants, and the frequent references in their works, especially in Gerard’s “Herbal,” show how often they were successful. Osmundas, or royal ferns, sundew or drosera, and the bog bean grew in the damp places, and lilies of the valley were among the familiar flowers. As late as 1838 a work on London Flora enumerates 290 genera, and no less than 650 species, as found round about the Heath. The soil, the aspect, the situation, are all propitious. Even now it is so far above the densest smoke-fogs that much might be done to encourage the growth of wild flowers. It is true notice-boards forbid the plucking of them, and that is a great step in advance--but the sowing of a few species, which have become extinct, would add greatly to the charm of the place. It is also still the favourite haunt of wild birds, and the more the true wildness is encouraged, the more likely they are to frequent it. It is much to be hoped that the London County Council will refrain in their planting, from anything but native trees and bushes which look at home, and which would attract our native songsters. Within the last ten or twelve years a very great variety of birds have been recorded either as nesting there or as visitors. The following list (taken from “Birds in London” by W. H. Hudson, 1898) may interest bird lovers:--