THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 483 



have been able to secure more than a hundred Bkiethroats (Si/lvia 

 suecica), and some twenty or more examples of *S'. hypolais and 

 S. jjolustris. Since then, on the other hand, our spring and summer 

 is ahnost always cold, with raw and dry winds from the north, 

 and the number of these Sylvia, and of other both smaller and 

 larger species which put m an appearance at those seasons, 

 has dwindled to the slenderest proportions, so that now the 

 two last-named species are seen perhaps not more than twice or 

 three times in the course of a spring migration. 



Moreover, this change of weather has made its influence felt 

 m another domain of the fauna of this island. During the warm 

 summers of earlier years, many of the blossoming shrubs and bushes 

 in my gardens — Centrantrwm ruhritm among others, as well as slices 

 of apple which had been hung out as bait — used to be comj^letely 

 covered by numberless thousands of the most varied species of 

 nocturnal lepidoptera, so that it was invariably two o'clock in the 

 morning before I had finished gathering in the spoil. All this has 

 entirely come to an end since the time mentioned, for the native 

 species have probably completely died out, and those once so 

 interesting occurrences, the large insect immigrations from the 

 continent, are now totally abandoned; so that for nearly ten 

 years I have given up collecting in this no longer fertile field of 

 Natural History. Other insects have disappeared at the same 

 time ; among them, the large common Garden Spider, whose nets 

 used to be stretched over every corner of the palings and posts of 

 my garden-hedge, and proved death-traps to many a small and 

 interesting moth ; of this Spider I have not seen a single example 

 for many years. Among the beetles, similar facts have been 

 noted in the case of the large Dung Beetle {GeotTU]}es ster- 

 corarius) ; this insect, which was once one of our commonest native 

 species, has at last disappeared so completel}', that on a recent 

 occasion I vainly offered a boy five groschen (about sixpence) for 

 one of them. 



To many of the residents on this island the sale of Woodcocks 

 forms a by no means inconsiderable source of income, though it is 

 now less lucrative than in former years ; therefore all possible means 

 are emploj-ed for the capture of these birds. Besides being eagerly 

 pursued with powder and shot, many are snared in large nets 

 specially made for the purpose, and occasionally they are taken 

 in the throstle-bush. 



The nets are, according to the place for which they are designed, 

 from 36 to 72 feet in length, and about 24 feet in height, the meshes 

 being about 2 J inches (65 mm.) in diameter, so that a Woodcock 

 flying against them can easily get its head and neck through. In 



