10 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



If towards the end of May the weather be specially favourable, 

 most of the above-named species pour in in incalculable numbers ; 

 during the hours of night, this great host of wanderers sweeps 

 across and past the island without taking rest thereon — some of 

 the birds travelling singly, others in smaller or larger groups, 

 according to the nature of the species — all striving to gain their 

 far-oft' homes. About sunrise, however, and during the earlj^ hours 

 of the forenoon, thousands and tens of thousands of these birds 

 break their journey : some, too, at sunset, in order to make a few 

 hours' stay on our island. It is, however, absolutely impossible to 

 ascertain the manner and method of arrival of most of these visitors, 

 even by the most careful observation ; this is specially the case with 

 the small song-birds and similar species, whose number increases 

 with each minute, without one being able to see a single bird de- 

 scending from on high, or shaping its course in any one particular 

 direction. Many alight on the fields while it is still dark, and are 

 present in their thousands by the time it has become daylight ; 

 some, on the other hand, e.g. the Bluethroats, arrive shortly before 

 sunrise ; others, like the Whin- and Stonechats, arrive only after day 

 has fully begun ; from this time onwards their number increases 

 steadily, and in so striking a manner that, by ten o'clock in the 

 morning, all the pastures, fields, and gardens, and even the rubble 

 at the foot of the clift', literally teem with Blue-headed, Black-headed, 

 and Yellow Wagtails, Redstarts, Chats, Wheatear, ^Vhin- and Stone- 

 chats, Bluethroats, Warblers, and Reed Warblers. The common 

 Wheatear is specially numerous on the shingle at the foot of the 

 clift', and thousands of birds, notably Warblers, lurk among the 

 shrubs and sand lyme grass (Elymus arcnarius) on the Dune. 



Favourable conditions such as these not only provide the 

 fowler and collector with an abundance of material in the shape of 

 the more commonly occurring species, but he may, at such times, 

 generally reckon to come across some rare and valuable stranger 

 from the south-east. As instances I need only cite the Desert 

 Wheatear (Saxicola deserti), Black-eared Chat {Saxicola aurita), 

 and Eastern Pied Chat {Saxicola moreo), Pallas' Short-toed Lark 

 (Ala^lda piftiwleUa) Ehrenberg's Redstart {Sylvia mesoleuca), and 

 Paddy-field Warbler {Sylvia agricola), Emberiza luteola, Red- 

 rumped Swallow {Hirwndo rufula), Caspian Plover {Charadrius 

 asiaticus), and the Eastern Golden Plover (Charadrius falvus), 

 and many other more or less interesting treasures of my collection. 

 Unfortunately, however, occurrences of this kind are conditioned 

 by the co-operation of so many dift'erent meteorological factors, 

 that completely successful results in this direction are extremely 

 rare, and indeed have not been obtained for many years. 



