264 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



world ; for Heligoland unquestionably ranks par excellence as the fore- 

 most ornithological station in the west of Europe. 



It is certain that one result of the author's observations and his 

 vast accumulation of facts will be to sweep aside for ever the crude 

 theories, visionary speculations, and hasty deductions which in recent 

 years have been put forward in the name of science in explanation 

 of the various phenomena connected with migration ; and in this way 

 the book will do good service in preparing the ground for the 

 appreciative student, so that he may be better able to grapple with 

 and understand some of those great problems which are yet only 

 partly solved. 



To the ordinary reader the work is made attractive by the facile 

 pen of the author. Mr. Gatke is a distinguished marine painter, 

 with keenest gift of observation and intense love of nature in all her 

 changeful moods as watched day after day from the lonely sea-girt 

 rock. His exquisitely descriptive word-pictures of bird-life are not 

 surpassed by ornithological writers in any land ; and in this English 

 edition the beauty of the original language has been well preserved 

 and rendered by the able translator. 



The first portion of the volume (148 pages) treats generally on 

 the Migration of Birds, and this is divided into nine chapters under 

 the various headings : (i) Course of Migration in Heligoland ; (ii) 

 Direction of Flight ; (iii) Altitude ; (iv) Velocity ; (v) Meteoro- 

 logical Conditions ; (vi) Order of Migration according to Age and 

 Sex ; (vii) Exceptional Migration ; (viii) What Guides Birds ; (ix) 

 The Cause of the Migratory Movement. 



Then we have a chapter on " Changes in the Colour of the 

 Plumage of Birds without Moulting." The second portion of the 

 book (pp. 167-588) is an exhaustive account, under the head of 

 each separate species, of all birds observed in Heligoland. This 

 list, which now includes a female Great Bustard (Otis tardd) shot on 

 1 8th April 1895, makes the total which have occurred stand at 398, 

 an extraordinary number for an island of so small an area in the 

 gray North Sea a bird-nesting station which may not inaptly be 

 compared to the central office of a telephone system, where winged 

 messengers from all quarters meet again to diverge. 



Space will not allow us to remark upon or criticise the author's 

 facts or deductions : these will bear the most careful reading and 

 supply much material for thought. The subject is of the very 

 highest interest not only to naturalists, but to the English-speaking 

 people of every land. 



The illustrations which have been introduced are from photo- 

 graphs taken on the island, and also pen-and-ink sketches by the 

 author. Much praise is due to all those who have been connected 

 with the production of this beautiful volume. First and foremost to 

 the firm of Mr. David Douglas, the publishers, and then to Mr. J. 



