392 Mr. H, Durnford on North- Frisian Ornithology. 



hitherto been published in this country ; and^ indeed, the only 

 contribution to their ornithology I know of is the short paper 

 on the birds of Sylt by Eafn, published in ' Naumannia ' for 

 1857 (pp. 125-128). Owing to a law which came into opera- 

 tion this year, no eggs are allowed to be taken (except in a 

 few islands, where the people chiefly subsist on them) after 

 the 30th April ; and there is also a law prohibiting the shoot- 

 ing of birds on land. Fortunately for us, the first of these 

 laws is not as yet very strictly enforced, and we accordingly 

 took little notice of it — but were continually advised to be very 

 cautious in the matter of taking eggs ; we heard that a few 

 days previous to our landing on Sylt two men had been fined 

 20 dollars (about £3) apiece for taking Herring-Gulls^ eggs 

 from the sandhills. Its existence, however, hindered us, in- 

 asmuch as we did not like to hunt over the land in the more 

 populous districts ; still we always found om'selves fully em- 

 ployed wherever we were. I left Hull on the 24th May, and 

 had a very stormy passage across to Hamburg, where I met 

 my brother, who had come by train from Paris. Off Spurn 

 Point I observed a single Sterna nigra amongst a party of S. 

 fluviatilis or 5. hirundo ; about a hundred miles from the 

 lighthouse an Anthus pratensis came on board from an easterly 

 direction, but much exhausted. When about sixty miles from 

 Heligoland another sought the shelter of our boat ; and before 

 we reached the island we had four or five on board. They 

 were all very tame, and if I had desired I could have caught 

 them in my hands. We passed within about five miles of 

 Heligoland ; and when near the island they all left us, flying 

 in its direction. Just off the mouth of the Elbe a fine pair 

 of Anas acuta flew in a north-easterly direction close over our 

 boat. Amongst the scanty vegetation on the banks of the 

 river I observed JEgialitis minor to be numerous, but saw none 

 elsewhere. 



The country from Hamburg to Husum is flat and uninter- 

 esting ; but we passed over some extensive boggy heaths con- 

 taining very inviting -looking spots for Plovers, Snipes, &c. 

 We saw a few pairs of Tringoides hypoleucus near the pools 

 of water formed in the holes whence peat had been dug, and 



