Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Heligoland. 157 



fair progress ; and he has intrusted to me the task of trans- 

 lating it into English and editing it in this country ; so that 

 it is to be hoped that within the next twelve months the full 

 details of his observations made during the last five-and- 

 twenty years in this wonderful little island may be before the 

 j»ublic. 



The authenticity of the Heligoland skins is beyond all 

 possible question. During the rime I spent on the island, 

 from the 23rd Sept. to the 18th Oct.^ I not only saw enough 

 to convince the most sceptical of the botia fides of all con- 

 cerned^ but myself shot or saw in the flesh such a variety of 

 birds, that I could almost agree with my friend Mr. Gaetke 

 when he stated that he would willingly exchange his collections 

 of rare birds shot in Heligoland for those which had passed over 

 the island without being shot. It is probable, however, that 

 the latter bear a much smaller proportion to the former in 

 Heligoland than in any other place. 



During my short stay on the island I saw quite a little 

 epitome of the Petchora birds — Grey Plover, Little Stint, 

 Sanderling, Snow-Bunting, Shore-Lark, Blue-throated War- 

 bler, &c. We shot two Aquatic Warblers, a Little Bunting 

 {Emberiza pusilla) , and had four Richard^s Pipits brought to 

 us in the flesh. I watched a Phylloscopus superciliosus in Mr. 

 Gaetke^s garden for some hours, listened to its call-note, and 

 finally shot it. As we breakfasted one morning (2ud Oct.) 

 we identified a Great Grey Shrike as it flew past the window 

 of our room ; and a couple of hours afterwards we bought the 

 bird for four groschen. 



The list of . Heligoland birds is so varied that many orni- 

 thologists have doubted its accuracy. The fact is that Heli- 

 goland is the ouly part of the world of which the ornithology 

 has been exhaustively worked. Every little boy on the island 

 is a born and bred ornithologist. Every unfortunate bird 

 which visits the island has to run the gauntlet of about forty 

 guns, to say nothing of scores of blowpipes and catapults. 

 The flight and note of every bird is familiar to every islander. 

 Each bird has its own local name in the Heligoland language. 

 A new bird is instantly detected. The fisherman steers with 



