THE PERILS OF MIGRATION. 185 



There is little then to mark Heligoland from the 

 rest of Europe, so far as its list of rare migrants is 

 concerned — all that we can say is, that it has been 

 a little better worked and much more closely 

 watched. The lost birds that wander to the British 

 Islands from time to time are not one iota less 

 interesting, or their occurrence less wonderful, either 

 in the distance they have travelled or the route they 

 have followed. That Heligoland is situated on or 

 near one of the most important migration routes in 

 the Eastern Hemisphere cannot be questioned ; but 

 there is nothing abnormal about migration there ; 

 and in some species the Flight is much more appar- 

 ent in our islands. The most remarkable feature is, 

 that migration becomes more contracted there than 

 on the British or Continental coast-line, probably 

 owing to Heligoland being so isolated, some twenty 

 miles from land, offering not only an easily recog- 

 nized land-mark, but a resting-place for lost and 

 weary strangers from afar. 



In one way Heligoland has the advantage of the 

 British Islands. It is more favourably situated for 

 tapping that great East to West migration wave 

 (notorious for the comparative abundance of small 

 Passerine species abnormally carried with it) that 

 sets in from the far East in autumn and gradually 

 spends itself down the Baltic and the valleys of 

 the Danube, the Elbe, and the Rhine. Conse- 

 quently many of the lost and wandering birds in 

 the wrong stream of migration, are caught before 

 they can reach our islands, or are more apt to 



