260 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



fishing in troubled waters ' ; or, in other words : — Let nobody know 

 that there are birds which are rare and vakiable ; though, to be 

 sure, they themselves would not have been capable of divulging 

 much information on this score, even had they had the wish to do 

 so. Acting, accordingly, on this principle, Reymers, when pur- 

 chasing the bird which was taken in May 1837, told the captor 

 that it was a young Golden Oriole, in which the under tail-coverts 

 were only then beginning to get yellow. 



In the course of the sunnner the bird was sold to one of the 

 few visitors who at that time used to come for the sea-bathing 

 (Badegaste), and I have unfortunately been unable to obtain any 

 further trace of it. I was more fortunate in regai'd to a Demoiselle 

 Crane (Grus virgo), shot in May of the same year on Sandy 

 Island by Reymers, which, after remaining for about forty years 

 in the Museum of Hamburg, I restored to Heligoland. It would 

 be interesting to find out whether these two birds occurred here 

 on one and the same daj- — a supposition, the truth of which, 

 after many later experiences of the same kind, I am scarcely in- 

 clined to doubt. The home of both species lies in the same 

 direction, viz. far south-east relativel}' to this island; and I have 

 observed a very large number of cases in which individuals of 

 different species, but from a common home, made their appear- 

 ance here simultaneously. Thus, Ehrenberg's Redstart {Sylvia 

 niesoZeuca) and the Paddy-field \Yarbler (S. agricola) on the 12tli of 

 June 1864, White's Thrush {Turdus varius) and two examples of the 

 Yellow-browed Warbler (»S'. superciliosa) on the 4th of October of 

 the same year ; Emheriza ecesia and Saxicola morio on the 9th of 

 May 1867 ; and on the 19th of September of the same year one 

 example of the Little Bunting {Emheriza pusilla) and two of S. 

 supercilio»i ; on the 22nd of May 1859 the Short-toed Lark 

 {Alauda hrachydacft/Ia) and Cretzschmar's Bunting (Emheriza 

 caisia); on the 4th of June the Red-footed Falcon {Falco rv.fipes) 

 and Alauda brachydactyla ; on the 18th of June 1860 the Black- 

 headed Bunting (E. melanocepltala) and Eastern Golden Plover 

 {Charadriiis fulvas). To these may be added innumerable similar 

 cases from other years in my diary, but the above-mentioned ones 

 may be sufficient for the present purpose. 



The simple dress of this bird has in its general character much 

 similarity to that of Turdus lividus. Thus, while the general 

 colour of the body is quite inconspicuous, the head has a deep 

 black marking, and the under tail-coverts are ver}' bright coloured. 

 Only in the present species the bodj- is not bluish grey, but of a dull 

 light greyish brown (^/'h/jc /(c/Z grauhraun), the lower parts being 

 whity brown, and the under tail-coverts, as well as those next to 



