58 Prof. Blasius on the Ornithology of Heligoland . 



naturalists will owe not a small debt of gratitude to Dr. Blasius 

 and Dr. Baldamus. 

 November 1861. 



X. — An Ornithological Letter on Heligoland. 

 By Prof. Dr. J. H. Blasius*. 

 To the Editor of ' Naumannia.'' 



■ Brunswick, September 1858. 

 You want me to give you an account of my summer excur- 

 sions . . . very well ! To begin with Heligoland. It is a long 

 time since I have seen so interesting a collection for European 

 ornithology as that belonging to Mr. H. Gaetke, a painter, and 

 secretary of the government of Heligoland. The contributions 

 of Naumann in the ' Rhea/ and of Gaetke in Cabanis' 'Journal/ 

 were calculated not only to attract the attention of ornithologists 

 towards this isolated and rocky island, but to raise the curiosity 

 of the ornithological world to a high degree. Independently, how- 

 ever, of a previous somewhat animated dispute on the moulting 

 and colouring of birds, the assertions of Gaetke, although founded 

 on fact, had been not only seriously questioned, but doubted 

 altogether. Von Homeyer, in Cabanis' ' Journal ' (1857, p. 143), 

 amongst other matters observes, — "When the collector has no 

 interest in deception, there is no reason to distrust his motives ; 

 but this is not so with regard to birds continually imported, espe- 

 cially from Heligoland, and proclaimed as novelties or great curi- 

 osities for the European fauna. If serious consideration is expected 

 in these cases, positive statements are requisite. The Heli- 

 golanders, owing to their frequent intercourse with foreigners, no 

 longer possess their primitive purity of morals. They know very 

 well that a bird killed on their island has, comparatively to one 

 of the same species imported from abroad, a greater value ; and 

 here lies the temptation for enhancing ten- or twenty-fold the 



* Translated from ' Naumannia ' for 1858. We have long wished to give 

 an English translation of this very interesting paper of Dr. Blasius, but 

 have been hitherto prevented from want of space. As relating to the ex- 

 traordinary features presented by the Avifauna of one of our own posses- 

 sions, and as containing the first discrimination of a new European species 

 of Warbler, it is of great importance. — Ed. 



