The street is named after the Royal Menagerie and Aviary which were located there in the reign of King James I. King Charles II expanded the Aviary when the Park was laid out from 1660. Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn both mention visiting the Aviary in their diaries. Storey's Gate, named after Edward Storey, Keeper of the King's Birds at the time of Pepys, was originally the gate at the eastern end of Birdcage Walk: the name is now applied to the street leading from the eastern end to Westminster Abbey, which was formerly called Prince's Street.