Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 355 



Sirs,— In July 1894' my late brother, Alfred Crawhall 

 Chapman, gave an account in ' The Ibis ' (p. 339) of a short 

 ornithological visit which we had made to West Jutland in 

 the preceding spring, and, among other things, recorded our 

 having met with a small band of Pelicans in that country. 

 Shortly afterwards {' Ibis,' 1895, p. 294) this statement was 

 questioned — in language certainly not very friendly or 

 fraternal — by a Danish naturalist, Herr Herluf Winge, of 

 Copenhagen. Six springs have since elapsed, yet Herr 

 Winge, though deprecating intrusions by foreign ornitho- 

 logists, has not afforded us any further information as to the 

 Pelicans that visit the Jutland coast. I have looked in vain 

 for any evidenc^e that he has even tried to solve this in- 

 teresting question ; and have been driven to the conclusion 

 that, if we " Uitlanders " do not help ourselves, we may 

 expect but little from scientific sources in Denmark — unless, 

 indeed, it be sarcasms, '^childlike and bland," 



The object of this letter is to suggest that the Jutland 

 Pelicans w^ouid form a thoroughly interesting objective to any 

 British ornithologist who would undertake a journey thither 

 during the coming spring. The time required is not more 

 than 30 or 36 hours from London, and I have given full 

 details ('Ibis,' 189 A, p. 339) as to the exact locality where 

 we found the Pelicans on May 8, 1893. As stated at the 

 time, the local fishermen knew the Pelicans perfectly well, 

 called them by the Danish equivalent of our own name, and 

 told us that, although t':e birds appeared there almost every 

 spring, they knew nothing themselves of their actually 

 nesting there. Whether they do so or not I can, of course, 

 express no opinion; but it seems regrettable that so inter- 

 esting a problem in ornithology should be allowed to remain 

 in doubt — and that almost within sight of our own shores. 

 An easy journey of a week or ten days might suffice to settle 

 the question, and during that period, I may a Id, a British 

 ornithologist would also enjoy many truly delightful scenes 

 of bird-life that can no longer be met with in our own 

 islands. 



1 am sending a coj)y (^cc p. .■>.")()) of a rough sketch of the 



